A Second Chance
by Sophia Hawkins
Summary: An alternative take on what happened when Kronos and Methos met up again after 2,000 years.
1. Chapter 1

A Second Chance

2000 B.C.

It was night in the desert, everybody was asleep, or rather almost everybody was. Kronos was trying to sleep but something was keeping him up. At first he thought it sounded like a wounded animal, but then he realized that the noises were being made by a human. Then with horror he realized that it was Methos. Kronos got up and went over to Methos' tent to see what had happened. Methos was in bed laying on his left side, with the blankets and furs drawn high up covering him.

"What's going on?" Kronos asked, "What's happened?"

Methos looked at him and quietly responded, "Nothing's happened."

Kronos knelt down beside Methos and realized that he was crying. "Methos, what's wrong?"

Methos explained that he'd fallen down earlier and he'd had a horrible pain in his left hip since. It didn't make sense to Kronos, so he decided to have a look and see if he could figure out what happened. He pulled down the blankets and immediately noticed that the ground beneath Methos was bloody. Kronos rolled Methos over onto his right side and pulled up his tunic and saw something that even he couldn't believe. There was a large hunk of metal stuck in Methos' hip, it was something he hadn't seen before and didn't know what it was, but he knew it had to come out.

Looking at Methos, Kronos could tell that his brother was scared, this wasn't something that they'd ever had to deal with before. What more, whatever it was in his hip, it wasn't anything either man could identify, but it was too far in to be simply removed, Kronos was going to have to cut it out, and they both knew it, and that terrified Methos even more.

"Kronos?"

"I know, Methos, I know."

Kronos picked up Methos' dagger and set the tip of the blade against the object in his hip. Before he began, he looked and saw Methos' eyes were wide with fear; Kronos turned Methos' head around to look away.

"Don't worry," he tried to assure his brother, "It'll all be over soon."

Methos dug his nails into the ground and grit his teeth and tried to prepare himself for what came next. The initial pain of the blade tearing into his flesh was so horrible he thought he'd pass out. Then as it moved deeper and deeper into him he started screaming and thought before long the pain would kill him. With every further movement Kronos made with the dagger, Methos screamed louder and louder until it sounded like his throat had been cut, and that was the moment in which Kronos completed the removal. Methos completely collapsed on the ground, crying even more so _now_ like a wounded animal than before.

Kronos smiled and gently kissed Methos' slowly healing hip. "I told you it would be over soon."

Methos said nothing and instead kept his face buried in the ground beneath him and continued crying. Kronos figured it was because he'd been in pain for a while, and it would take longer for this wound to heal than it had others. He picked up the thing that had caused his brother so much trouble and tried to figure out what it was. It was the size of the palm of his hand and it looked like a rock, but he knew it wasn't, this was a sharp metal of some sort, and if he had to guess, he'd figure it was made as it was, exactly for this purpose. It was cast with several small sharp points that made it easy for it to stick in human flesh, it hadn't been enough to kill Methos, but it had kept him in pain for a good amount of time, and no doubt had they needed to fight, he wouldn't have been able to, at least not as well as he normally did.

"Methos," Kronos grabbed Methos and turned him back on his side, "Where did this come from?"

Methos looked at it for a moment and said, "I don't know." However, Kronos had an idea that Methos knew more than he was letting on.

Kronos slipped one arm under Methos' back and the other under his thighs and carefully lifted his brother up and settled him on his lap.

"Take it easy, Methos, it's over…" he told him.

However Methos seemed inconsolable, and this worried Kronos because he knew Methos wouldn't act like this over a wound. Methos might not have been too old, but he was old enough that he ordinarily acted better than this, which told Kronos that something was seriously wrong with him.

"Methos, what is it? What's the matter?"

Methos tried to resist answering but Kronos persisted, and finally Methos said he couldn't tell Kronos what had happened. This didn't set well with Kronos because he didn't appreciate his brother keeping secrets from him.

"What's the matter with you? Tell me what's happened."

"I can't," Methos replied, "You'll hate me when I tell you."

Kronos would have laughed if he didn't know this was going to be terrible. "Methos, there's nothing you can tell me that I would hate you for it."

"You say that now," Methos said, "But you won't think the same after I tell you."

"Tell me what?" Kronos wanted to know.

Methos sat up and grabbed Kronos around the neck and leaned into his ear to quietly explain what had happened. What he said upset Kronos so much, when Methos finished explaining, the only thing Kronos could ask was, "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Because I was ashamed," Methos tearfully confessed, "I didn't want you to think you had a damn infant for a brother, who was stupid enough to get taken prisoner and tortured."

"Oh Methos…"

Methos lowered his face in his brother's shoulder, "I'm sorry."

"Methos, you don't have anything to be sorry for because you didn't do anything wrong. Now try and calm down, I'm not going to let anybody near you again."

Kronos picked up the piece of metal and looked it over again. It was most unusual, it had thirteen long and narrow points that stuck out in a weird circle. Those were what had kept it lodged in Methos' hip.

"What is this?" Kronos asked.

"That's how they marked me," he replied, "They said with it, they would be able to find me again. They knew I couldn't die from it but they put it in so I couldn't take it out."

"What do you mean they knew you couldn't die from it?" Kronos asked.

"They knew I was Immortal," Methos explained, "They said with that they'd be able to watch me."

"Where did this happen?" Kronos asked.

"In the…next village," Methos replied.

"I see…" Kronos set Methos down on the bed, "Stay here for a moment."

"Where're you going?"

"To get the others…I don't know who or what these people think they are, but they're not going to live long enough to get away with this."

* * *

1993

Had that been the beginning of the Watchers, and the Hunters? Thinking back now, Methos wasn't sure, but he knew it didn't matter anymore. They had come for him once before and now, 4,000 years later they had come again. Only this time when they had come for him, he was alone. They outnumbered and easily overpowered him; he had no choice but to go with them. Now he wished that he was dead, they certainly made it a sweet temptation.

Who was the leader this time? A man named Horton wasn't it? He couldn't remember anymore, his memory from the last few days was a blur. The parts he could remember, being shot, stabbed, burnt, electrocuted, torn open with red hot pokers, he wished he could forget it all. He wished that he could stay dead for more than a few minutes, or a couple of hours, maybe then it wouldn't be as bad.

"You died once today, did you enjoy that?" the apparent ringleader of this sadistic bunch asked.

His own words, oh the irony. Actually yes he had enjoyed death, but what it took to reach it, he had not and didn't want to go through it again, so he shook his head, and immediately regretted it. How many days had he been without food or water and to top it all, he was tied to the wall with restraints on his hands. The sort of restraints ordinarily used on mental patients in hospitals, but that hadn't been enough. No, these bastards had custom made a set of shackles, with spikes in them, and the spikes punctured into his wrists when they were put on…and there were no keys, they would have to be melted in order to be taken off.

In between the blood he'd lost and the blood he was still losing, to say nothing of the overwhelming nauseating feeling that filled his stomach, it was safe to say he felt like hell, and things showed no sign of improving anytime soon. Trying to think back, he wasn't even sure how this whole mess had started. All he remembered was being jumped, being called for the umpteenth time in his life an abomination, and being demanded for some answers, answers to something he had absolutely no idea what the hell they were talking about.

"Won't answer, eh?" one of them asked.

Methos forced his eyes open and saw what the man reached for, a large, recently sharpened knife.

"We have other ways of making you talk," the man said.

A realization of what was about to happen came upon Methos and he was terrified. They'd already filled him with holes and torn him open and just about everything else imaginable, but when they said they had other ways, Methos had a very good idea that one of them involved cutting him up one piece at a time. If he had any idea at all what it was they wanted to know, he might've talked, but he didn't, and now…now one of those sadistic bastards was looking him over as if to decide which part to cut off first.

Exhaustion was winning him over and his head dropped for a second as his eyes closed, but he regained whatever composure he had left, when he felt somebody grab his ear, and he knew this was where they would start.

So this was how his life ended, at the mercy of three of the more recent psychotic Watchers in the business. Except things like this had no mercy in them, and still they had the balls to call him an abomination. Through the corners of his eyes he saw the blade come within a fraction of an inch to his ear. He decided he didn't want to see this and closed his eyes, since knowing his luck they'd probably decide to cut off his eyelids next.

Then, out of nowhere, just before he could feel the blade cut into his flesh, he felt the presence of another Immortal. He didn't know what the hell was going on and he couldn't care less anymore, he was too tired. His eyes closed and he hoped death was quick and as painless as could be possible for somebody like himself.

The window was smashed as the intruder jumped in, and Methos faintly heard the sound of machine gun fire but he felt nothing. For a moment he thought that he'd already lost too much blood to consciously feel anything anymore, but then when the noise died down he felt somebody kiss him.

"Greetings, Brother."

Methos' eyes popped open and he saw standing before him, somebody he had hoped he would never see again.

"Kronos!"

Looking around the room, Methos couldn't believe his eyes, but then in a sense he suppose he could, this was Kronos after all. The three Watchers lay dead on the floor riddled full of bullet holes, the dying looks on their faces all masks of shock and horror. And standing directly in front of him was his brother, who he had hoped never to meet with again, and the bastard was smiling at him.

"I missed you too."

That was the point in which Methos felt his entire body go limp, whatever strength he'd had left was gone. Kronos reached up and undid the restraints, Methos' body dropped but his wrists were still caught in the piercing shackles. When Kronos saw this, he grabbed hold of Methos and laid him out on a table to get a better look at the things and to figure out how to get them off of him.

Methos tried to talk, and ask just how Kronos had found him, but when he tried to speak, Kronos told him to be quiet. It was just as well, Methos decided, he was too weak and too tired to say much anyway. As he looked up to the ceiling he felt himself spinning, and it almost felt as if he was drifting out of his body. He closed his eyes and waited for either sleep or death to take him, and he wondered what was to happen to him now.

Kronos meanwhile had figured out _how_ the shackles would have to come off, and he wasn't pleased with the idea. He decided to do this where a mess would be the lesser problem, so he carried Methos into the bathroom and laid him out in the tub. Then, searching the house, he found a torch and went to work, the smell of the metal melting against the heat, mixed with the odor of burning flesh as the flame burnt past the inch of cast iron, was enough to nauseate even him.

Finally the shackles melted enough that he could remove them, and when the spikes came out of Methos' wrists, the blood started flowing again. Kronos grabbed a towel and wrapped it around Methos' arms and picked his brother up. Methos was still alive but barely, too much blood lost, too many days without food, too much continuous strain on his body from constant healing.

"Well, Brother," Kronos said, "It may have taken me two thousand years but I finally caught up with you again."

* * *

When Kronos removed the bloody towel from Methos' wrists he saw the bleeding had stopped but the wounds hadn't entirely healed, either they were taking more time to close up, or his brother was going to have all-around scars for the rest of his life. Methos still hadn't woken up, and he seemed to have no acknowledgment of Kronos getting him out of that place, or of Kronos removing his clothes or putting him in the bathtub or filling it with hot water. Kronos was sure the scalding heat would be enough to bring his brother around but it was almost as if Methos couldn't even feel it. Maybe he should've turned on the cold tap but he didn't think it would've made a difference.

He lightly slapped Methos' face and still got not response.

"Come on, Methos, wake up."

He struck Methos a bit harder the next time, a low groan emerged from his brother but little more. Then another idea came to his mind, he pulled out one of the drawers under the sink and took out a small bottle of whiskey. He removed the lid, put the bottle to his brother's lips and forced a good drink of the liquor down his throat. Methos started coughing and seemed to be coming around. Methos opened his eyes and looked up and saw Kronos, and then he panicked.

"Kronos!"

He backed up and banged his shoulder against the hard marble of the tub.

Kronos laughed, "Did you think I was just a nightmare?"

Methos didn't answer, it seemed he was too scared to.

"Relax," Kronos said as he knelt down by the tub, "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Why not?"

Apparently Kronos wasn't the only one who remembered their departure all those centuries ago. He reached over to Methos, but his brother tried to back away.

"Don't get yourself excited," Kronos said as he stroked through Methos' hair, "You're not the only one who can change in two thousand years you know. How are you feeling?"

"I…don't know," Methos replied.

Kronos tried to slip him another drink of the whiskey but Methos pushed him back and took the bottle for himself.

"It's been a long time," Kronos said, "Perhaps too long."

Half of the whiskey went back in the bottle when Methos heard that. He wasn't sure he liked where this was going.

"For a long time I thought you were dead," Kronos told him, "I didn't bother looking for you. But then I heard rumors, Methos the world's oldest man…"

Well up to this point Methos decided his life had been going well. He hung his head low and waited for whatever was coming next, he just hoped that whatever Kronos had planned, he got it over with quickly and as painlessly as could be done.

"Is that what happened?"

Methos looked up at Kronos. Had he missed something?

"What?"

"I said is that what happened?" Kronos asked, "They found out who you really were?"

"I don't know," Methos replied, and then the tears came, "I don't know…I don't know what it was they wanted with me. I don't know _how_ they found out I was Immortal. I don't know anything."

Kronos took the bottle back from Methos and pushed his brother lower down into the hot water.

"It's allright, Methos, you're safe now, they're not going to hurt you again," he told his brother.

"I wish I could believe that," Methos replied.

Kronos leaned over and kissed Methos on the side of his head. "My poor brother," he said, "They had no right treating you like that…they never did."

Methos closed his eyes and felt Kronos grab his wrist. He knew Kronos was looking at the tattoo; oh the irony of this was never going to die.

"How long?" Kronos asked.

"About 15 years."

"Little good it'll do you now," Kronos told him.

"I know." Tears burnt Methos' eyes as he answered, "I know."

Kronos grabbed a towel off the rack and held it over Methos' face for a minute while he calmed down.

"Now," he said when he lowered the towel, "Let's get you cleaned up and then I'm putting you to bed."

Methos laughed, though why, he wasn't sure, and that seemed to please Kronos.

"I have missed you," Kronos explained.

"I missed you too," Methos replied.

"I know."

Kronos washed and scrubbed the blood and grime off his brother to the point that every inch of his body was bright pink and sore. When that was done, Kronos pulled the plug and wrapped Methos in a large towel and carried him into the bedroom and laid him out on the bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Tired…sick…scared."

"But you don't need to be, I'm here with you, and I'm not going to let anybody get their hands on you again," Kronos said, "I let you get away once, I'm not making that mistake again."

Methos looked up at him with eyes wide with terror.

"Cut that out, I'm not going to hurt you," he said, "I know, you think I still want your head for what you did to me two thousand years ago…well I used to, but not anymore. Now I'm just glad to see that you're still in one piece."

"More or less," Methos replied.

Kronos could tell that Methos was near dead with exhaustion and there was no way he could possibly last much longer than he already had.

"It's late," he said, "You better get some sleep."

He drew the covers up to Methos' chest and ran his hand through his brother's short hair and laughed, recalling how long and unruly it was when they last saw each other. Methos turned his head against the pillows and fell asleep. Within minutes, he was dead to the world and there would be no waking him until morning. Kronos got on the other side of the bed and lay beside his brother. Reaching out he grabbed Methos' hand in his own and squeezed it; when he did he realized how much strength Methos had lost in the past few days.

"Welcome back, Brother," he said, though he knew Methos couldn't hear him.

* * *

Methos slept the whole night but he didn't sleep peacefully; all night long he had nightmares about the Watchers and the Hunters, and Kronos. When he woke up the next morning he felt like his head was swimming and he couldn't get up. He lay where he was for a few minutes, then he heard the door open, looking up he saw it was Kronos.

"How're you feeling?"

"I don't think I can get up," Methos said.

"Just as well, I'm placing you on bed rest for the next couple of days," Kronos replied as he walked over to the bed and got in alongside his brother, "Did you sleep well?"

"I slept." It was then that Methos realize it had been the first time in days that he _had_ slept.

It was then that Methos realized something. There was no possibility that it was a coincidence that Kronos found out about the Watchers holding him. That meant that Kronos had to have known for quite some time that he was alive.

"How long had you been watching me?" Methos asked.

"About three months."

Then he had to have known when they came for him. Methos didn't question it. Even if Kronos could change, and maybe he had, Methos figured there would still be a part of him that wanted to see his brother suffer for what had happened 2000 years ago. Even if he wasn't doing it himself, Kronos probably enjoyed watching Methos get what he thought he deserved.

"And how long did they…"

It wasn't much to his surprise, but Methos couldn't even finish the question.

"Only three days," Kronos replied.

Three days. Three days with those bastards. Three days hanging on the wall while being ridiculed with bullets, torn open with blades, burnt to the point of…he didn't want to think about it anymore. He turned on his side and buried his head against the pillows.

"I found this when we were leaving," he heard Kronos add.

He turned to face his brother and saw Kronos holding his Ivanhoe. He gave it to Methos, who held it for a minute before tossing it over to the wall and turning back on his side.

"I don't want it," he said.

He closed his eyes and waited for his stomach to stop flipping around. He felt Kronos' hand on his back and it made him want to jump out of his skin.

"Do you want something to eat?"

Methos shook his head.

"I don't think I can keep anything down," he replied.

"Well I'll get you something to drink," Kronos told him.

"Not more whiskey," Methos said.

Kronos laughed, "No, not whiskey."

Methos felt Kronos' weight shift off the other side of the bed and heard him leave the room. Well, Methos thought, his life hadn't turned out quite like he planned, but this was an even bigger turn than he could have imagined. Back with Kronos again, what was going to come of him now?

It was then that Methos realized something else. He had to find out if his cover was blown to all the Watchers, or just those dead. Sitting up in the bed he saw a phone on the nightstand, and he knew he had to contact Joe Dawson and find out what was going on. He picked up the receiver and dialed Joe's number and waited.

"_Dawson."_

"Joe?"

"_Adam! Where the hell are you?"_

"Joe, what's going on?" Methos asked.

"_What do you mean? Where have you been all week?"_

"Joe, something's happened…what's going on? Does everybody know?"

"_Know what?"_

"Who I am…Joe, I have to know if they do."

"_What are you talking about?"_

If Joe didn't know then that meant that the word _hadn't_ gotten out yet.

"Joe, something terrible happened…some of the Watchers…they're hunting Immortals."

"_Who is?"_

"I don't know," Methos replied, "They're dead now, but they…"

Methos stopped. Though Kronos' quickening never really left Methos' mind, it felt even stronger now than before and he knew what that meant. Reluctantly, he turned around and saw Kronos standing before him. Kronos grabbed the receiver, lifted it to his ear long enough to say, "Goodbye" and hung up.

Methos dropped against the mattress and started to almost subconsciously curl into a ball. Kronos grabbed his wrists and pulled him into a sitting up position.

"Come on now," he said, "Have a drink, you'll feel better soon."

Methos looked and saw Kronos pick up a vodka bottle and press the mouth of the bottle against his lips.

"No, Kronos," Methos said as he tried to move away, "Please."

"Drink it!"

Kronos pinned Methos where he lay and forced him to drink from the bottle. Tears stung Methos' eyes as he realized that he really was back with his brother, and soon, this might be his whole world again. Kronos took the bottle away when Methos started choking on the liquid and it was then that he realized something.

"You son of a bitch," Methos said, "That was water."

It was then that Methos started crying and he couldn't stop himself though he could feel himself becoming sick from it all. Kronos got on the bed beside him and picked Methos up and set him on his lap and gently rocked him and tried to calm him down.

"What's wrong? Tell me, Methos," Kronos said.

It was a few minutes before Methos could calm down enough to explain, "I was so scared, Kronos…it was just terrifying, those three days, with them…I don't think I've been that scared for a long time…"

"I know," Kronos replied, "I know how that is."

That sent an icy chill up Methos' back.

"Yes you do," he realized, "I'm sorry…" he buried his face in Kronos' shoulder, "So sorry."

"Shhh, quiet, quiet…" Kronos tightened his hold on his brother, "You're safe now, nobody's going to hurt you."

Methos grabbed hold of Kronos and begged him, "Please, Kronos…don't leave me."

"I'm not going anywhere," Kronos assured him.

"I don't mean that, I mean……the first time that we met, all those thousands of years ago…I came from a life of fear and that was all I knew…the only time that I felt that the world as I knew it wasn't going to fall away from me was when I was with you. Two thousand years I woke up in the middle of the night screaming because I could feel myself falling away…you were right…you were right…I _can't_ survive without you."

"Of all the things I ever said to you," Kronos told the lump he coddled that was his brother, "You chose to remember _that_? Methos, if you've made it to 5,000 years living like you have, then you _don't_ need me."

Methos clung tighter to Kronos and started crying harder, exactly why he was, he didn't know.

"Quiet, quiet," Kronos said as he tried to soothe his brother, "Everything's going to be allright, just calm down."

Methos felt Kronos push him down on the bed and move away. Methos tried to grab Kronos and begged his brother not to leave him. Kronos pulled away from him and sat at the foot of the bed.

"I told you I'm not going anywhere," Kronos said to him, "And I meant it…you've gotten yourself upset and worked up and now you're not going to be able to rest. I know you're scared, and after what you've been through you have every right to be, but you have to calm down before you make yourself sick."

Methos was ashamed of himself for it but he just couldn't stop crying.

"I'm just so _scared_, Kronos…I don't know if I'll even be able to go home again," Methos wailed as he beat his head against the pillows in despair.

Kronos crawled back up to the other end of the bed and lay alongside Methos and wrapped his arms around his brother and kissed him. "I know, Methos, I know…"

In that moment, a realization came over Methos. He was currently with the only person in the whole world who could ever, possibly, understand what he was feeling. It was then that he also realized that it didn't matter if he _did_ go home again because he already _was_ home again.

"I…love you," Methos barely managed to get out over his cries.

"I love you too," Kronos replied, "Do you think you can relax now?"

Methos slowly nodded and he felt Kronos back away.

"Good," Kronos replied as he took Methos' hand in his, "You go to sleep, and I'll be here when you wake up."

"Promise?" Methos asked.

Kronos raised Methos' hand to his mouth and kissed it, "I swear, Brother, I swear."

Methos knew he should have calmed down but he still couldn't stop himself from crying. He had always known that Kronos would come for him, and he always knew when that day came, Kronos would greet him with a blade to his throat. It seemed that he had been wrong about his brother, and the unexpected kindness that Kronos showed him now left Methos beyond appreciation, and past words to explain why he acted the way he did.

"Thank you," he quietly said as he forced himself to calm down, "For everything."

"My brother," Kronos said. He grabbed Methos and pulled his brother on top of him and held him in a tight embrace, "My dearest brother, I think I spent too much time away from you. You're a survivor but you don't always do well on your own. No…maybe you _do_ need me still for some things."

"Don't leave me," Methos said again.

"I won't," Kronos assured him, "I've spent too much time looking for you just to leave you again."


	2. Chapter 2

"Ouch!"

"If you don't hold still," Kronos told Methos, "You're never going to get this kink out of your back."

"Exactly what are you trying to do, untie it or sever it completely?" Methos asked.

Methos continued screaming as Kronos used a very unorthodox method of getting the stiff parts out of his back. When it was over, Methos turned on his side and curled back under the covers.

"How're you feeling?" Kronos asked.

"You don't want to know," Methos murmured as he turned his face into the pillows.

Kronos sprawled out on the other side of the bed next to his brother.

"I'm glad I found you," he told Methos, "I was worried about you for a long time."

"Oh Kronos," Methos tiredly replied into the pillow, "Since when did you ever worry about me?"

"Since I know what you are and what you do…you're a survivor more than you are a fighter anymore, but that won't last forever."

"Well I've managed 5,000 years so far, I'd like to think I'm doing something right," Methos said.

"Until recently, anyway," Kronos said.

Methos felt Kronos pull down the covers and unwrap the towel that covered his body. He shot up in bed and looked behind him at his brother to see what the hell he was doing.

"I remember when we first encountered them," Kronos told Methos. He traced his hand along Methos' hip where the metal had been imbedded in his skin.

"I never forgot that damn thing they used to mark you," Kronos said, "I remember, thirteen points in some weird circle to dig into your skin," he reached over and grabbed Methos' wrist to reveal the tattoo, "The irony of it all…you marked yourself the same way."

Methos turned away again, ashamed. All the years he had been in the Watchers, he had never had a second thought about it in terms of regret; only his brother could make him feel lower than dirt for what he had done in joining them.

"Apparently," Methos said, "The rest of the Watchers haven't found out yet that I'm Immortal, at least I hope they haven't…I thought…you'd think by now, things would be different."

"I know," Kronos told him, "I used to think the same thing as well…that by now the manhunts would be over, but they're not…now they're just being done more elusively so no one's the wiser."

"Except the hunters and the hunted," Methos concluded.

"Don't start again," Kronos said, "Just tell me, why, why did you join them?"

"Because I'm the survivor and it was the perfect place to hide. They never would have suspected an Immortal among them, certainly not an ancient one, and that way nobody would come for my head anymore than was necessary as an Immortal only and not a legend."

"I understand that," Kronos told him.

"I'm not like you, Kronos, not anymore…I don't like to fight anymore, no more than I have to, and I avoid it whenever I can," Methos explained.

"I know," Kronos replied, "That's why I came for you."

Methos turned over and looked at him with wide eyes, wondering what was going to happen now.

"I found out, about a year ago that you were still alive," Kronos said, "I decided I was going to come and get you, everything else be damned…I knew you wouldn't want to come but…dammit Methos, don't you understand? You're my brother, maybe not by birth but everything else…you're my brother, and I love you, that's why I was furious with you when you left…I couldn't let my brother leave and then I don't know what's happening to him. If I didn't worry about you, I could have let you go easily, but I couldn't because I do."

"The last time that we saw each other," Methos recollected, "You said that you were going to take my head."

"And how many times did you say that to Caspian?" Kronos asked.

"I meant it," Methos said.

"I don't think so," Kronos replied, "You kept him around mostly to make him look stupid compared to the rest of us."

Methos turned away and buried his face in the pillows to keep from laughing. How he remembered those days.

Kronos grabbed Methos and pulled him close and kissed him.

"I'm glad I found you, every day and every night for 2,000 years I worried about what might happen to you," Kronos explained, "You really scared the hell out of me for a while."

"That's a first," Methos said.

Neither said anything for a moment. Kronos noted it was dark outside and he knew a storm was coming; Methos could no doubt feel it too, and they both knew it would be a strong one.

"Are you feeling allright?" Kronos asked.

Methos nodded, "I'm fine, just tired."

"Are you hungry yet?"

"Not really."

"If you keep this up, you're going to make yourself sick," Kronos told him.

"I never get sick," Methos replied, "Kronos."

"Yes?"

"Where are my clothes?"

"Why?" Kronos mischievously smirked, "You're not going anywhere anytime soon."

"I'm cold," Methos replied.

"Well, there's no way in hell you can wear those things again, I'll get you a change of my clothes," Kronos said.

"Your clothes? Well then I hope you have about a dozen safety pins and a pair of suspenders."

Kronos laughed at that idea as he pulled a set of his clothes out of the closet and took them over to the bed. He tried to get one of his shirts on over Methos' head, but Methos pushed him away.

"Cut that out, I can dress myself," Methos insisted, "I'm not a doll."

"Well…"

"Shut up, Kronos," Methos said.

"Oh come now, you know you're adorable, especially when you're trying to be serious," Kronos replied.

"Exactly how long has it been since you've been with someone?" Methos asked, "I think you're starting to lose it."

"I'm just glad to see you again," Kronos said, "It's been too long."

Methos nodded. "I agree, I didn't enjoy leaving you, Kronos, but I had to. You acted as if we were all the same person, and we weren't."

"I know…I know…it took me a while to figure that out," Kronos replied.

Methos looked down at the floor and didn't say anything after that.

"Methos, what is it?" Kronos asked.

"I'm worried, Kronos…there may be another Watcher who knows who I am…or at least, _what_ I am," Methos explained.

"Who?"

"His name's Horton."

"Do I know him?" Kronos asked.

"No, I don't think so…but if _he_ knows…"

Methos lifted his gaze and Kronos saw the look of terror in Methos' eyes. There was no mistaking how much the idea of this particular man knowing his secret scared the hell out of Methos.

"It'll be the end of me," Methos said, "If he knows, then my cover is blown to the whole organization."

"You think he was behind your abduction?" Kronos asked.

"I don't know, but it would appear that he is very much responsible for the Watchers hunting down Immortals, something's happened all of a sudden and I don't know what," Methos replied.

"Who was that you called?" Kronos asked.

"A friend."

"In the Watchers?"

"Yes, he didn't seem to know anything, so maybe I'm in the clear," Methos said.

"Well," Kronos replied, "Getting yourself all worked up now when there's nothing that can be done about it, isn't going to help you any…so lay down and try to go to sleep."

Methos nodded and lay back against the pillows. He was so tired and his eyes hurt so much it felt like they had been burned. Kronos covered him up and left the room, but he made sure he was nearby incase anything happened.

* * *

Methos stayed in bed all day and it was after four o' clock in the afternoon when he finally decided to get up. He opened the bedroom door and started down the hall, and laughed simultaneously amusedly and nervously as Kronos carried him back into the bedroom.

"Going somewhere?" Kronos asked.

"Well I," Methos said as he was dropped on the bed, "No, I guess not."

"I told you," Kronos said to him, "You're on bed rest for the next two days."

"Kronos," Methos said, "With all due respect, is that called for?"

"You tell me," Kronos replied, "When was the last time you ate anything? At least four days, and you can't tell me you're not hungry."

"Allright, allright Kronos you win, I'll eat, but don't blame me if I get sick from it," Methos said.

"Don't worry," Kronos responded.

Methos watched tiredly as Kronos left the room, and it was then that Methos caught sight of something else at the corner of the room, his Ivanhoe. He turned on his side and stared at the opposite wall; right now he felt as if it wouldn't matter to him if he never picked that damned thing up again. That was what had been the start of this whole mess. Those Watchers saw him remove it from his coat and that had been when they had found out he was Immortal.

Oh he hated himself, all these years and nobody ever suspected a thing, and now he was starting to slip. If he didn't sharpen up soon, he would be dead in no time, and that very thought scared the hell out of him. He hadn't gone through everything that he had gone through for it all to end now, but that looked to be the way things could very well go at any time now.

Suddenly, Methos got a sickening feeling in his stomach and he went into the bathroom and shut the door behind him so he could be alone. That in itself would become a gem of a rarity with Kronos around the next few days.

* * *

After dinner, Methos fell asleep again, and as the day turned to night, the sky darkened at so rapid a rate there was no doubt that they were in for a storm.

Kronos sat beside Methos on the bed and grabbed his brother's wrists to see if the scars from last night had remained. It was much to his relief to find that the marks caused by those spiked restraints had disappeared entirely. His brother had managed over 5000 years without a scar on him, it wasn't becoming for him to start now. Kronos leaned in close to Methos and kissed him. Then he saw two very tired eyes looking at him.

"Kronos!" Methos sat up almost immediately, "What's going on? What is it?"

Kronos smiled. "Nothing," he replied, "Go back to sleep."

Methos let out an exhausted sigh as he hit his head against the pillows again.

"Kronos."

"What?"

"When I go back in a few days…will you come with me?" Methos asked.

Kronos turned and looked at him and said, "You know I will…after what's happened to you I wouldn't leave you alone within three feet of those bastards."

Methos nodded and lay back down. Kronos turned on his side and just when he thought he'd be able to actually get some sleep, he felt something on his back. Looking over his shoulder he saw Methos had curled up next to him, and he couldn't help but smile at how cute his brother looked when he was quiet, his eyes were closed, and his mouth was shut, which was a rarity.

"Goodnight, Brother," Kronos said.

"Goodnight."

* * *

The storm woke Kronos. He awoke from a bright flash of lightning which was followed by a near deafening roar of thunder. Something didn't quite feel right about the whole thing though. Kronos sat up in bed and it was then he realized the shaking and whimpering coming from the other side of the bed. Methos had curled up in a ball and was shaking like he'd been left out in the snow, and he was whimpering like a dog that had been beaten.

"Methos, wake up," Kronos pressed his hand into Methos' back and started shaking him, "Wake up, you're having a nightmare."

Methos didn't hear him though. Kronos grabbed Methos' wrist as he started thrashing around from side to side on the bed, Kronos' hold on him being the only restraint preventing him from falling off the bed.

"Methos, wake up!" Kronos said as he tightened his hold on Methos and jerked his brother around a bit himself.

Methos thrashed about once more before Kronos had had enough and he slapped Methos hard. Methos awoke with a yelp and he was almost instantaneously crying again. Kronos pulled Methos to him and held him tightly.

"Calm down, it's over now," he told his brother.

Methos continued crying as if he hadn't heard his brother, and truth be known, perhaps he didn't.

"Methos, calm down, it was just a nightmare."

And still Methos didn't hear him; he continued crying and buried his face in Kronos' shoulder in an attempt to muffle the noise. Kronos held Methos close and let him wear himself out. He figured that Methos would probably cry himself to sleep and stay asleep until the next morning as he was sometimes wont to do after a nightmare. After a while when it seemed Methos couldn't continue anymore, he finally started to talk.

"I don't know how…or why, I let these things keep happening to me…I'm over 5,000 years old, I shouldn't be an easy target to anybody, least of all the same people I work with," Methos explained, "That's why I went into the Watchers to begin with, so people hunting for me couldn't find me. But they must have found out…they saw my sword and they knew what that meant…"

"That must have been a while ago," Kronos said, "They certainly needed plenty of time to put everything together."

Methos pushed away from Kronos and sat on the center of the bed. He picked up a corner of the bed sheet and wiped the stinging tears from his face.

"I just feel _so_…embarrassed about it all…here I am the oldest person alive and I…I can't do any better than a new Immortal."

"Maybe that's because you still act like a new one," Kronos tried to make a joke of it.

Methos wasn't laughing. "I came so close to dying last night…"

"Or at least winding up like Van Gogh," Kronos replied.

"It's not funny, Kronos."

"I know it isn't…you think it was easy for me to watch what was to come of you? But I didn't have a choice. Those three in the house with you were just the tip of the iceberg, they had spies lurking around the whole property and spread all out through the whole damn backwoods behind the house…I had to get rid of them first so we wouldn't be ambushed when we left."

More Watchers dead, this ordeal was just getting worse with every passing hour.

Lightning filled the room making everything a near blinding white, and in that second Kronos saw the tears welling up in Methos' eyes again.

"I just don't know what to do," Methos said, "I don't want to die…but I wonder how much good I am anymore alive."

Kronos pulled Methos to him again and held him tighter than he could remember doing before. He had always felt so damn protective towards Methos the entire time they were together. In the beginning he couldn't figure out just why that was…but now it started to make sense. Methos was starting to doubt himself and his ability to survive and that was something he had never done. If he started thinking that way now, he was liable to lose his head in the next fight.

After a few minutes, Methos started pushing at Kronos to try and get away from him, but Kronos wasn't going to let him go.

"Kronos, please!" Methos begged him, "Let me go, I'm going to be sick."

Kronos let go of him and Methos got out of bed and stumbled over to the bathroom. As always, Kronos was right behind him to see if he needed anything. He found Methos hovering over the sink, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did.

"You see," Kronos said as he walked up to Methos, "This is why you've got to calm down, otherwise you'll be making a habit of spending your nights in here, instead of in bed."

Methos nodded, he knew Kronos was right, he just wasn't sure if he could do it.

* * *

The rain continued all of the next day and it added to the dreary mood that Methos was in. He had no desire to get out of bed at all the next day, he slept all morning and Kronos stayed by his side watching him. He could never figure out how a person could look so young, and so old at the same time. Watching his brother as he slept, Kronos couldn't help but notice how Methos simultaneously looked the age he was when he first became Immortal, and the age he really was. Life had not been kind to any of them, but it seemed to have it in for Methos the most, perhaps because he above all others, wished the most to continue living.

Around noon, Methos finally spoke, it was only one word, but it was enough to get his brother's attention.

"Kronos?"

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I don't know," Methos tiredly replied, "Everything I guess…it seems I have a lot to be sorry for."

"I want you to quit talking like that, you don't need to apologize to me about anything," Kronos replied.

"I swear, Kronos," Methos tiredly murmured, "I think you're losing your touch."

Kronos looked down at his brother and smiled, "I love you too, you little bastard."

* * *

A couple more days went by before Methos had it in him to pick up his sword again. Now when he looked at it, there was something wrong. Kronos could see it in his brother's eyes. Methos looked at his sword as one might look at a loved one being laid to rest in their grave.

"Methos, what's wrong?" Kronos asked.

"I think I'm beginning to resent this thing," Methos said.

Kronos didn't have it in him to see just where Methos stood as a fighter these days. He knew he should have, but he didn't want Methos getting any ideas and thinking he made a mistake in trusting his brother _not_ to take his head. Right now Methos needed to know that he could trust his brother, so…Kronos would keep quiet about it for the time being, and he would stand watch over his brother and make sure nobody got to him again.

"Come on," Kronos told him, "I'll take you home."

Methos followed Kronos out into the rain and out to the car. Methos never found out where they were, and he also didn't have to tell Kronos where to go, he already knew. So for the three hours of the ride, Methos just leaned his head against the window and fell asleep.

When Kronos stopped the car it was with an immediate slam on the brake and Methos almost went flying through the windshield.

"Well that was fun for about a minute," he said, "Are we stopping to eat?"

"No, we're already here," Kronos said, "That is _your_ place isn't it?"

Methos looked ahead and saw his home, "Should be."

Kronos got out of the car and had his sword with him, "Let's see if anybody's home."

Methos followed him up to the front door, and the first thing he noted was that from this side anyway, nobody had broken in.

"I locked it when I left," he said. He grabbed the knob and it wouldn't turn, so he dug through his pockets and that's when he realized something.

"I left my keys in _my_ jeans."

Kronos reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a key ring, "I found those when we were leaving also."

Methos took the keys and unlocked the door and pushed it open. He looked around the place before stepping in. Thus far nothing seemed out of place.

"This is an ugly place you have here," Kronos said.

After Kronos stepped in, Methos grabbed the door and looked behind it to make sure nobody was hiding there.

"We're not going to get any rest until we search this place from top to bottom and are certain nobody's here, are we?" Kronos asked.

Methos shook his head, "No."

"Fine then, stay behind me," Kronos said as he took off to examine the next room.

* * *

Two hours later Kronos was getting tired of the non-stop manhunt.

"Methos," he said, "We've gone over this house twice, we've checked under the bed, in the closet, behind the couch, under the sink…if there _is_ anybody in this house I wish they'd come out and get it over with because I'm getting tired of playing hide and seek."

"I'm sorry, Kronos," Methos replied, "I guess I'm just being paranoid."

"Well…there's nothing wrong with that, the problem is staying paranoid."

"Well, since you're here now and you're staying, I'll get you moved into my bedroom," Methos said as he picked up Kronos' bag.

Kronos followed Methos into the bedroom and looked the place over for a third time.

"This is a particularly ugly place you have here," Kronos commented.

"Well it may be ugly, but it's home," Methos replied.

"I never thought I'd say it to you of all people, but you could do better than this," Kronos said.

Kronos went into the next room and saw a shelf full of old books that had been stacked together, most of them looked like they belonged together, like part of a set. He picked one off the shelf and opened it to the middle. It was filled with some very old writing but he was able to translate the date of the entry to June 17th, 1767. Methos came into the room and caught Kronos reading it.

"Hey!"

Kronos looked up, a knowing smirk on his face, "Your memoirs."

"Memoirs are for the hopeless romantics of the world," Methos replied, "This is my life."

"Your life," Kronos closed the book and blew on the cover, sending a dust cloud off of it, "Needs to be taken out and dusted…what are you writing it all down for?"

"I've already forgotten enough about my life," Methos replied as he took the book from Kronos, "I can't remember anything from before I was Immortal, I don't want to forget anymore than I have to. I'm hoping that by writing it all down, I'll always remember."

"Everything?" Kronos asked.

"Everything," Methos agreed, "Even the parts that I want so desperately to forget…if I forget anymore, I don't think I'll be able to stand it."


	3. Chapter 3

Methos had been drowning when Kronos first met him. The members of the village Methos had been living in at that time had accused him of being some evil demon. They had tied him up in a manner most obscene as far as Kronos knew at the time, with his hands behind his back and his knees to his chest and they threw him in the river to drown. Kronos had gone into the water after him and hauled the stranger's near lifeless body back onto dry land. Already he was turning blue around the mouth and his skin was as cold as snow.

From somewhere off in the distance, he heard Silas calling for him.

"_Kronos?"_

"Over here!" Kronos called in response.

Silas and Caspian came up to see what had kept him. They saw the stranger Kronos was holding against him and Caspian neared in for a closer look.

"What is that?" he asked.

"This," Kronos said and smiled, "Well we're just going to have to see what he is. Here," he had Silas take the cold, limp body from him, "He's cold, take him over by the fire and keep him there."

Kronos stayed where he was and took in the sight before him. Everybody who had lived in the village was dead, his own personal touch of course. Still it disturbed him greatly that no matter where or how far they rode, things were always the same, people always feared them for not dying.

It was night when Kronos returned to his comrades. The stranger still lay by the fire, hardly moving at all. If it weren't for his low quickening, Kronos would almost be certain the man was dead.

"Has he said anything?" Kronos asked.

"Not a word," Caspian answered, "Not even a sound. I'm starting to wonder if he _can_ talk at all."

Kronos knelt down beside the men and forced the stranger to look at him.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

The man looked up at Kronos with tired eyes that were simultaneously filled with fear, and yet he still didn't say a word.

"It's allright," Kronos tired to assure him, "We're not going to hurt you."

For some reason, the man seemed to believe him.

* * *

That had been the beginning of how they met. It had been weeks before the stranger said a word to anybody, though they had no problem feeding him, he'd eat whatever they all but forced down his throat, but never made a sound. Sometimes Kronos would hold his mouth open and look in it to make sure that his tongue hadn't been cut out.

In the beginning, Kronos regarded him as a pet, though this was one particular pet he was very protective of. Every time the man had to be washed he fought with all his strength to keep from going back to the river. Kronos went into the water with him and it was then that he realized the man couldn't swim, and even standing in water, he would panic and his body would tense up and he would start to sink like a stone. Bathing him immediately became a barren source of amusement.

At night, Kronos didn't let the man get away from him, they slept side by side and Kronos always had a tight hold on the other man. Exactly why he felt so damn protective towards the stranger, he didn't know, but until he knew if anything would come of having the man with them, he didn't want to risk anything.

One night it was late and everybody else had already gone to sleep. Kronos fell down beside the other man and saw he wasn't the only one still up.

"Go to sleep," he told the man, "It'll be morning soon."

Kronos laid down beside the man and closed his eyes.

"Thank you, Kronos."

Kronos about jumped out of his skin when he heard that. He sat up in the bed and looked at the other man, and for a moment _he_ didn't know what to say.

"You can talk?" he finally asked.

The man slowly nodded.

"Then why in _hell_ haven't you said anything before?" Kronos asked.

The man moved back slightly and answered, "Because I was afraid."

That hadn't been the answer Kronos was expecting.

"Afraid of what?" he asked.

The man didn't answer and hung his head low, ashamed.

"So what's your name?" Kronos asked.

"Methos."

Kronos knew he should've said something more to the man but he was exhausted and he wasn't in the mood for it.

"It's late, go to sleep," he said again.

Methos smiled and laid back down, "Goodnight, Kronos."

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled as he turned back on his side.

* * *

In the beginning, there had been so much that Methos didn't tell Kronos, and had never told him, and by now he couldn't remember most of it.

That night as the two brothers lay beside each other in bed, Methos slept while Kronos stayed up and watched over him, and remembered. He remembered how difficult it was for the longest time to bathe Methos because he was afraid of going back into the water, for fear he would drown again. Teaching him to swim was an even more frustrating task, he about drowned them both on several occasions. And Caspian, that bastard, Kronos almost laughed as he recalled. The four of them always behaved like brothers, and like brothers they very seldom got along with one another. Caspian up to the point that they found Methos had been regarded as the runt of the litter, he was always getting into trouble, doing things that he wasn't supposed to. After they found Methos, whenever Kronos wasn't around, Caspian would jump Methos and drag him out to the river, bound and gagged, and throw him in and watch him struggle to stay above the water.

The times that Kronos caught him doing it, first he'd have to go into the river and fish Methos out, and then he spent the rest of the night making Caspian sorry he'd ever been born. There had also been plenty of times however that Kronos hadn't been around to stop Caspian, that was where Silas came in. Silas being a much larger man, and a lesser expected brute, he could kill two birds with one stone by sitting on Caspian while he untied Methos and hit him on the back so he'd cough up the water.

Thinking about it all now, Kronos realized that Caspian never caused half as much trouble before they found Methos as he did after they had. Being the runt of the litter he was, Kronos figured Caspian had been jealous that the attention ordinarily paid to him had to be divided between he and another, so like a jealous child, he did the most abhorred things, even by _their_ standards, for whatever attention would be paid him just so long as they noticed him.

Kronos heard a low noise from the other side of the bed and he looked over to see if Methos was having another nightmare. It turned out to be a false alarm as his brother just turned over onto his side, and that led Kronos to wonder just how many nights he lay awake worrying about Methos. It was then that an idea came to Kronos and he slowly got out of bed, so that the weight shift in the mattress didn't wake Methos up. Kronos slipped out of the bedroom and into the next room where Methos was keeping all the volumes of his journal. He picked one volume up from off the shelf and made his way into the kitchen, where the light wouldn't wake Methos.

Before he turned on the light, he made sure that the door was open just enough that he could hear Methos if anything happened. Kronos could ask Methos about the last 2,000 years until he was blue in the face, but he knew that Methos would lie to cover up anything he didn't want Kronos knowing about. Well this way he would find out the whole truth for himself because Methos could never have anticipated when he started writing his journal, that his brother would ever come back to him, and if Methos really didn't want to forget anymore about his past, then he wouldn't abridge anything he put in it.

Kronos started at the beginning of the book, by this time, some of the dates were unintelligible and all Kronos could make of it was it was somewhere in the early 1800s.

"_That kid Byron is going to be the end of me yet, I'm sure of it. He still hasn't fully comprehended just what it means to be Immortal. I caught him today jumping into the river trying to drown himself. The fool I was, I dove in after him and tried to bring him back to the surface. He may look puny and petite but he has an unbelievable grip about him. Instead of me dragging him back up, he grabbed hold of me and pulled me further down to the bottom. The entire time we were in the water, it took every ounce of self restraint I had to keep from panicking. Finally, I got us both to the surface and when I did I gave him a hard shove towards the shore, and he wasn't pleased. He had the audacity to look at me with a hurt expression and asked, 'Doc, what did you do that for?' 'I should be asking you the same thing you little bastard', was my reply._

_Oh how I wanted so much to grab him and shake him until his neck snapped, and yet I couldn't. He reminds me so much of somebody I used to know and yet I can't think of who. I suppose in a way he reminds me of myself when I first became Immortal, but good Lord, if I were this much trouble in the beginning, it's a wonder Kronos never took my head. _

_I had to remind myself that he's young and he just became Immortal and he doesn't know what's going on yet. Though it seems pretty obvious to me that he doesn't have any idea at all what he's doing anymore. During the days, he does everything he can think of to try and die to see if it's true that he'll live forever, and at night I find him curled up in my bed, terrified to be left to himself. How unfortunate it is that there aren't doctors to find out what's wrong in Immortals, Byron seems to need it. Every day I find him looking at me, like I'm supposed to have all the answers to what's happening to him. Some of the answers I do have, but he wants to know more than I could ever tell him, and that simple fact seems to hurt him greatly. _

_It's almost as if he blames me for what's happened to him. That's becoming a common thing I've noticed, when you don't know who to blame for what happens, you just blame the closest person to you. I wish I were responsible so when I told him I'm sorry it would at least mean something, but the truth is it's not my fault. It's not my fault that he was cursed with a bad foot before he became Immortal, it's not my fault he'll have to limp with a cane for the rest of his days, however many those are, and it's not my fault that he now cannot die. He seems to drink in excess, as a means of trying to forget the pain and forget what's happened to him…but drinking isn't the only thing he does to try and forget it. He tries to lose himself in whatever is available, drunkenness, passion, he even tries to lose himself in opiates. None of it does him any good but they all play a role in minimizing his memories and his awareness of his pain for a while. If his whole life becomes revolved around forgetting pain, I can't help but wonder just how he will ever survive as an Immortal, where pain is life for all of us."_

* * *

It was 4 o' clock in the morning when Kronos returned to bed. Methos hadn't moved during the whole night and he didn't made any sign of acknowledging Kronos slipping back into bed alongside him. Kronos put his hand on Methos' shoulder and shook him.

"Methos, wake up."

Methos grunted and shot up in bed.

"Is it morning already?"

"Not quite," Kronos replied.

"Oh…" Methos settled down against the pillows again, "Is something wrong?"

"I was just wondering something," Kronos said, "Did you ever get over your fear of being out in the water?"

Methos turned on his side with his back to Kronos.

"Apparently not," Kronos commented.

"I don't want to talk about it," Methos said.

"If you don't want to, fine, I was just wondering…"

"No," Methos turned back over and shook his head, "If you really want to know, Kronos, the answer is no, I didn't…I _still_ hate the water…damned foolish though it sounds, I _never_ got over all the times people drowned me. I put that right up there with being buried alive except with that, there's a way out…when I drowned I never knew if I'd be brought back to the surface again or if I'd stay dead for hundreds of years at the bottom of the river. Sure, I can swim if I have to but every time I'm in the water I still worry that I'll forget and panic and sink again."

"Then I take it you never looked into going on the Britannic," Kronos said.

Methos looked at Kronos with daggers in his eyes for his brother.

"Don't start making jokes, Kronos, I'm not in the mood for it."

"Allright, allright, calm down, don't get yourself all excited," Kronos told him, "I just wanted to know."

"Well now you do," Methos replied as he turned on his side again.

He closed his eyes and waited for sleep to take him. A minute passed and then he felt Kronos' weight on his back as his brother leaned in close and kissed him above his eye.

"I'm just glad you're allright after all this time," Kronos told him.

"Did you ever doubt it?" Methos asked.

"Yes…"

Methos didn't know why but that hurt him worse than anything had in a long time. To hear that his own brother could doubt his ability to survive…but what hurt him even more was the truth.

"Well you're right," Methos told him.

"What're you saying?"

"You have _no_ idea how tempting it's been over the centuries to want to just end it all…a few times I came damn close…whatever saved me from going through with it, I have no idea."

Kronos didn't say anything after that and Methos didn't want to face him. He had a good idea that he'd upset his brother greatly by that remark. Then, Methos felt two strong arms locking around his waist and it knocked the air out of him. He tried to crawl out of the hold Kronos had on him but it was to no avail.

"Kronos," Methos laughed as he squirmed and wriggled and tried to get away, "Let go of me, I can't breathe!"

Kronos loosened his grip, slightly, and said, "Go back to sleep."

* * *

"Kronos," Methos said the next day, "I appreciate your concern, really I do, but I don't need you watching me every minute of the day, I can take care of myself."

Methos had thought, that morning, that he'd be able to get a bath without his brother hovering over him like a vulture, but he was wrong again.

Kronos simply laughed and remarked, "Well, it's going to be a while before things get back to normal for us…in the meantime I just want to make sure nothing happens to you."

"Of all the things that have ever happened to me," Methos replied, "Drowning in the bathtub was never one of them."

"So tell me about this man, Horton, what is he?" Kronos asked, "How do you know him?"

"That's a long story," Methos said, "In short, he's the brother-in-law of my friend in the Watchers. I don't know him very well at all, in fact we've never been introduced, we've just seen each other around at the meetings."

"But you think he's behind what's going on."

"Yes, during those three days, I was going in and out of consciousness a lot and somewhere along that time I heard them mention Horton…said if anything was done to foul up the plan, Horton was going to fix them."

"What's this Horton look like?"

Methos seemed to figure out where Kronos was going with this.

"No, Kronos, you're not going after him."

"And why not?"

"Kronos, use your head for once, you are an Immortal, if you go after Horton and kill him, it's going to look like all Immortals are a threat to the Watchers and they should all be destroyed. This could very easily develop into the third world war with two such distinctive sides to this living in the age we are," Methos said, "There would be manhunts all over the globe. Up to now, most Immortals don't have any idea that Watchers exist because the Watchers are afraid of revealing their secret, but if you do that, it'll just open up the floodgate for massacres worldwide between the Hunters and the Immortals. And I can't spend the rest of my days running for my life, always looking over my shoulder, dying and then going under a new identity, do you have any idea how old that gets?"

"I have a pretty good idea," Kronos replied.

"So you understand?"

Kronos nodded.

"Then you won't do it," Methos said.

"I promise nothing," Kronos told him, "Except that when he does die, they won't know an Immortal was responsible for it. People up and die all the time from completely normal things, get thrown in front of a car, fall out the window, go out and drown. If you think he _is_ the root of this problem, give me a few weeks and I'll get it all taken care of for you."

"I appreciate it," Methos replied, "Thank you."

Methos lay back in the tub and looked up at the ceiling and said, "Times like these I'm glad my mother isn't alive to see me."

"Methos, you never _had_ a mother," Kronos reminded him.

"Of course I didn't, that's why I'm glad she can't see what's come of me," Methos said.

* * *

A few nights later after dinner, Kronos had Methos get his sword and his coat and leave with him. They were covered by the darkness of the night and they were taking a route Methos was most unfamiliar with.

"Kronos," he nervously said, "Where are we going?"

"I told you before," Kronos said, "We're going for a walk."

"I know, but where?" Methos asked.

"You'll find out when we get there, just relax."

Relax. As if he _could_ relax when his brother insisted on it.

They walked a ways further and passed through two large iron doors on a gate, and Methos stopped in his tracks as he saw the hundreds of tombstones that surrounded them.

"Kronos," he said nervously, "Why did we come to a graveyard?"

He turned around and saw Kronos had drawn his sword. Methos panicked and moved back, tripping and hitting his back on a large tombstone.

"Get up," Kronos said, "And draw your sword."

Methos' eyes were fixated on the blade of Kronos' sword and it seemed he was incapable of noticing anything else. He didn't say anything, he didn't move and he was already on the verge of hyperventilating. Kronos grabbed him and pulled him to his feet.

"Look around, Methos, you know I'm not going to take your head, I just want to see where you stand as a fighter after 2,000 years," Kronos said, "And for your sake I hope it's better than the last time we fought."

Methos nervously and reluctantly removed his sword from his coat, and it was then that the fight started. Kronos came upon him like one of a thousand experienced fighters who knew every move that worked. For half an hour they were neck and neck with each other, running through the cemetery going through every strategy, every trick, every possible move that could do either of them any good. On the surface of it they seemed very well matched but Methos knew the fight would only have one winner and it might as well be him. For some reason, he didn't know how or why, an idea came to him and he acted on it, and it all happened too quickly for either to fully realize what had happened. He struck at Kronos which he blocked with his own sword, Methos locked his blade in the cross guard of Kronos', which trapped the blades together. Methos jerked Kronos' sword out of his hand and unlocked his blade from it, tossed Kronos' down, grabbed Kronos by the collar of his jacket and set the blade at his throat.

They stood as they were for several minutes, neither saying a word, neither moving, they just looked at each other. This had been the moment of truth, and had Kronos been anybody else, and had they been off Holy Ground, Methos would be taking another head, and they both knew it. Finally, their morbid expressions broke when they fully realized the outcome, and they smiled at each other. Methos lowered his sword and put his free arm around Kronos in an embrace, to which Kronos returned the favor with both arms which winded his brother.

"Come on," Kronos told him, "Let's go home."

* * *

Later that night as Methos slept peacefully in his bed; Kronos was in the kitchen again going through the same book he'd been reading since he'd arrived. For 400 pages Methos had done nothing except talk about some Immortal named Byron who from what he could gather had a club foot and was a complete and total loony. Methos at the time was a doctor, he tended to the living and he looked for answers in the dead, none of which pleased his new friend.

"_I think I'm losing my mind. Byron suffered a nervous breakdown yesterday and I about went along with him. I found him early this morning on the roof, about to jump from a height of two stories. He was so lost in whatever was going through his mind that he didn't notice me, so I was able to grab him just before he leaped off. I had to wrestle him down off the edge and practically drag him back into the house and down to his bedroom. He didn't appreciate being tied to the bedposts but after what he put me through, I didn't care. I advised his servants not to go in to him no matter what he said or how horrible he acted, because he was ill and it might be contagious._

_That night I went in to see him. He had calmed down and fallen asleep earlier in the day and had stayed as such for a long time. I woke him up and untied him and brought in his dinner. It seemed that he didn't have enough strength to feed himself so that quickly became my responsibility as well. Afterwards, he said he had something to tell me, and he asked me to come closer so that I'd hear him because he was only going to say it once. I should have known better, but I believed him. No sooner had I leaned in close to him, he grabbed me and tried to hold me down and he kissed me. That in itself I wouldn't mind except for the fact that he did it with so much strength and passion it was as if I were his wife, or at least his whore for the night, instead of his friend, and his doctor._

_I tried to push away from him but whatever Byron sets his mind to, he makes sure he gets, and he wasn't going to take his hands off me. I told him to let me go but he refused and tried to hold me even tighter, so I started kicking him, and damn it all to hell as if enough damage weren't already done, I kicked him in his bad foot. He let go of me about like a superstitious person would drop a white cat. I moved away from him but he caught me by the wrist._

'_Doc,' he had said to me, 'Don't leave me.' 'Why shouldn't I?' I replied, expecting this to be another trick of his. He looked up at me with eyes filled with desperation and terror. 'Stay with me tonight,' he said, 'Help me,' and then he said the queerest thing of all, 'Save me from myself'._

_He was striking me as becoming delirious. I pulled away from his grip and felt his forehead. Though it shouldn't be possible, I would almost swear I felt a fever in him. 'Have it your way', I told him, 'I'll stay for the night'. He lay his head back against the pillows and smiled tiredly like he does after helping himself to a whole dish of opiate. 'Thank you, Doc,' he replied as he started to drift off to sleep already. So now __**I'm **__his sedative, as if I didn't have enough problems already._

_So I agreed to stay the night in his room, but hell if I said anything about spending it in bed with him. I spent the night in a chair next to the bed watching him. All through the night I kept the lights burning, why, I can't answer. When the clock struck 2 in the morning, Byron started to moan and toss and turn in his sleep. Then he started striking at thin air as if he were being attacked by something or somebody directly above him. He started screaming as well, as if he were being torn apart. I threw myself on the bed and on top of him to hold him down and tried to wake him up. Removing teeth is easier than what it took to make him realize he was having a nightmare._

_Once he was finally awake and aware of where he was, I asked him if that is why he wanted me to stay with him. He nodded his head. 'Next time you want some company,' I told him, 'Just ask me, don't treat me like we just got married.' He reached out for me as if he didn't want me to get away from him again. I knew that whatever the dream was, it had to be horrible because sometime during it, he had worked up enough of a cold sweat that the back of his nightgown was completely covered in it, as was the hair on the back of his head. After that, it took almost a whole hour for him to fall back asleep._

_I myself haven't slept in the last two days, I keep wondering about what he said, 'Save me from myself'. I can't figure out what he meant, and I don't dare ask him, I suppose because I'm afraid of what he might mean by it. I know what Byron is and what he's like and what he does, and I know it would be better if I didn't stay so close to him, and yet I feel I can't afford to stay away from him for too long. Byron wants something from me that I can't give him, not because I'm too moral, I haven't been moral since I became Immortal, and it's not because I don't care for him because I do. The problem is Byron wants a lover and I don't. The little bastard thinks that he can seduce me as he does countless men and women, it's simply the way his mind works, and it's about all that he understands. However in this lifetime, I'm a doctor first, friend second…lover isn't even something I can consider this go around…and I particularly refuse to consider it with him._

_He can't understand why, and he doesn't want to, because it would be admitting that there's something in the world that he can't have. But I have my reasons for turning down his advances, it's not for fear of being struck dead …if people knew what the truth was, they might have a good laugh at the expense of a man well over 4,800 years old, who of all the things he has done in his life, has limited himself to only women for lovers. Of all the things I've done in my life, that certainly wouldn't be the worst thing I could do, and if I were any other sort of person from any other sort of past, maybe I would consider it. But I being I, having lived through what I have, possess too many reasons as to why I cannot…none of which I dare try to explain to this arrogant brat Byron. He writes whole pages full of drabbles about life and love and death, but he can't understand what I've gone through. He's too young to understand being hurt as I have…I've been hurt by people of every sort, men and women, the rich and the poor, the masters and the slaves, the kings and the peasants, they all get around to having their way with me. Furthermore, he's too new an Immortal to understand having to kill lovers when they end up unable to continue living…as I fear is the case with him if his delirium continues and worsens."_

Kronos heard a noise from the bedroom and he immediately closed the book and shoved it in the junk drawer under the kitchen sink just seconds before Methos came in.

"Kronos."

He looked at Methos and knew something had happened. His hair was messed up in damp spikes, his eyes were wide, _too_ wide for just stepping into a lighted room in the middle of the night, and his chest rose and dropped rapidly while he tried to keep his breathing normal.

"Nightmare?" Kronos asked.

Methos nodded tiredly as he rubbed his eye.

"What was it about?"

Methos walked over to Kronos and put his arms around him as if he was holding on for his life.

"I dreamed that you died," Methos said in a low voice.

Kronos laughed as he wrapped his arms around Methos' back. "You don't have to worry about that, Methos, I'm never going to die."

Methos started crying in a spasm of choked sobs that slightly resembled hyperventilating. Kronos patted him on the back and tried to calm him down.

"Okay, okay, shhh, it's okay, Methos, come on, let's get you back into bed."

Kronos pushed Methos back into the bedroom and pushed him onto the bed and started to cover him up.

"You're not leaving are you?" Methos asked.

"Of course not, I just couldn't sleep," Kronos replied as he tucked the covers in, "Feeling better now?"

"A little," Methos answered as he turned on his side, "I was just worried, that's all."

"Probably my own fault for that little stunt in the graveyard tonight," Kronos said as he slipped in beside Methos, "I apologize for upsetting you, but I had to know how well you could do in a fight."

"Well," Methos told him, "If that hadn't worked, I have another method."

"Yeah I know, I found your gun when we were searching for intruders," Kronos replied, "Now, do you think you can go back to sleep?"

Methos tiredly nodded, "Thank you."

Kronos leaned over and kissed Methos. "Sleep well, dear Brother."

He watched as Methos went to sleep, and he started thinking. From what he'd read so far, he'd only covered January through March sometime in the 1800s and already he was finding out a lot more about his brother than he had anticipated he would. The whole thing struck Kronos as strange…the things he read in that journal weren't close to anything he would expect from the brother he remembered Methos being. Of course, he had to give Methos some credit, it _had_ been 2,000 years since they last saw each other, he had plenty of room to change. And change he did, from ruler to humble servant and from Death on a horse to the good doctor, and yet, never once during the whole ordeal did Kronos feel that he didn't know his brother anymore. None of what he read sounded like Methos at all, and at the same time it sounded exactly like him.

The first day they had come back to Methos' home, when he caught Kronos reading the journal, he about panicked. He had never explained _why_ he didn't want Kronos to read it; Kronos had guessed Methos was embarrassed to have somebody else read about his life. Then he thought maybe Methos was worried if Kronos found out what he had gone through the last thousand years or so, maybe he wouldn't be so happy to see his brother again. Whatever the reason had been, Kronos figured it had to do with Methos trying to hard to cover his tracks so the truth about him couldn't be found out, in so anybody who knew him or thought they did, would have a harder time pushing him away. Well, now he was starting to find out the truth about his brother's life now that they were together again; Kronos wasn't sure he understood it all but it was going to take a lot more than whatever Methos had written down in his life, for Kronos to regret finding his brother again.

_That's the one thing you forget about me, Brother,_ Kronos thought to himself so he didn't wake Methos, _Others may reject you for what you were or what you've done, but I'll never turn you away. I couldn't do that to my little brother._


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you sure you want me to go?" Kronos asked.

The days had turned to one week, and then another, and Kronos had packed up and was ready to go back home if he could be convinced that Methos would be allright. That seemed to be the biggest question on his mind, in the two weeks he had stayed with his brother, Methos hardly ate anything and he drank excessively, even by their standards.

"I'll be fine," Methos told him for the umpteenth time, "You've got your own life waiting for you back home."

"Some life, I have no family and nobody comes to see me, it's not like my agenda's filled. I _could_ stay longer if you wanted me to."

"I appreciate it," Methos said, "But I'll be fine. You go on now."

Kronos picked up his bag and before walking out the door, he pulled Methos into a final embrace and kissed him.

"If you need me, you know where to find me," Kronos told him.

Methos saw Kronos off, and once his brother was gone, reality set in again and Methos knew what he had to do now. He didn't like keeping anymore secrets from Kronos than he had to, but if he was going to be convincing today then he was going to have to look like hell, and that was where two weeks of practically starving himself and binge drinking had come into play.

* * *

Methos knocked on the door a few times and stood back. He looked around while he waited; the atmosphere was gloomy, the sky was dark, the air was damp, a storm was underway, and it fit in perfectly with how Methos was feeling at that time. He heard the door open and he turned back around.

"Don."

Don Salzer stood in the open doorway and saw his friend looking rather out of it today.

"Oh Adam, what brings you here?" He took in the uneasy appearance of the seemingly younger man and noticed Adam was shaking, and he knew this wasn't a social visit, "What's wrong?"

"Can I come in?" Methos asked.

"Of course," Don held the door for him and Methos slowly entered his home.

"What's the matter?" Don asked as they headed to the living room, "You've been missing a few days, haven't you?"

"Yes," Methos nodded, "That's what I came to talk to you about. Something terrible has happened."

"What?" Don asked as they sat down.

"Something's happened with some of the Watchers, they've gone completely…I don't even know what's wrong with them…but they jumped me last week, accused _me_ of being Immortal."

"Merciful heavens," Don said, "What did they do to you?"

"They tried to kill me," Methos replied with a teary eyed expression.

Methos had never been much of an actor in his time but he considered this to be the best performance anyone could bring to life. His emotions were not so much drawn up out of thin air but the exceedingly fast rate at which he could work himself up into an emotional wreck, took more concentration than any fight he had ever taken part in. The tears poured from his eyes like rain down a gutter, he got so close to hyperventilating he thought he was going to pass out, and he reached out in desperation and fear and clung to his friend as if his life were in the balance of it.

Don put his arm around Methos' back and tried to get him to calm down and explain what had happened.

"They tried to kill me," Methos cried, "Why…why would they do that? What did I do to them that they'd want to kill me?"

"Do you know who they were?" Don asked.

"It was…Meltzer, and Getty, and Burke that I know of for certain, but…I think there were more."

Don said nothing but Methos knew his friend was furious. The Watchers were supposed to be able to depend on each other, not turn their own organization into a manhunt. He held Adam close to him and lightly, cautiously, kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm so sorry, Adam, I can't imagine what came over them…what happened to them?"

"I don't know," Methos cried, "I just remember getting away from them and I ran…I've been laying low the last few days so they couldn't find me…I've never been so afraid in my life."

At that time Methos actually started hyperventilating. Don got him a drink to help calm him down, after that Methos was able to breathe again.

"I don't understand what's going on," Don told him, "I'll speak to Joe Dawson later and see if he knows anything about it. Perhaps this work has finally made them crack."

"I just don't get it," Methos said, "Don, have you ever met an Immortal?"

"No," Don shook his head.

"Have you ever spoken with one?"

"A few times."

"But you never knew any personally?"

"No," he shook his head again, "But, I'll tell you something, Adam…I've been in this long enough to know that they're not so much different than us that we can't get along with them. If I _did_ meet one…I don't think anything based on their Immortality alone would prevent me from getting along with them, nor they with me. I really don't know that I understand why they must not know we exist. They're a slightly different breed of people than we are but they are people none the less."

Methos nodded.

"Of course, you know me," Don said, "I don't care _too_ much for people, but I like them well enough, I should think…people every day come into contact with Immortals and they have absolutely no idea of it, and you'll note they're not all popping up with their throats slit. That should tell people something…you often depend on a stranger for help, how does it matter if they'll die in 100 years or not?"

* * *

Don only lived two years after that. Kalas attacked him and left him for dead in the bookstore where he worked. He killed Don to get to Methos who at that time was becoming acquainted with Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod. Fate sure was funny the way it jumbled so many things together to happen so closely to each other.

Now, here it was two years after _that_, and Methos found himself in Joe's bar for what had to have been the third time that week, and he found himself yet again reminiscing about his friend, Don Salzer. Salzer had been a good man, one of the few Watchers Methos knew he could trust. Most Watchers either seemed to despise the Immortals, or they were scared of them, Salzer never appeared bothered by any of it. He never had anything nice to say about them because he never met them, but he never had a solitary cross word to say regarding Immortals either. To him, they were more or less like everybody else and had a right to be treated the same way.

Methos would've laughed if it didn't hurt him so much to remember his friend. He seemed to recall a time long ago when he was a tenant in a boarding house. Word had come up that a tornado was heading their way, and half of the people were in a panic to go down to the basement, the other half were running around the house getting together everything they'd need for when the house was destroyed by the twister. In the midst of it all there was an old man who just sat in his chair and continued reading all night as if nothing were happening, and at the end of the storm, nothing _did_ happen. Salzer reminded Methos of that old man; he never worried what the Immortals might do to him if they found out, he was never afraid of them because of what they were or what they did, and up until Kalas came around, he seemed to be right about it all.

Don had been right though, it was no different from ordinary people. All the time, everyday there were thousands of accounts of people being killed for no reason at all, by people they never knew, so how was it any different? Of course, try explaining that to the Watchers, he had to laugh. The trial of Joe Dawson had ended a long time ago but everybody still felt they were walking on eggshells about it all, trust Immortals, trust Watchers, who knew what the correct answer was?

"Adam!"

Methos about jumped off the barstool when he came back to reality and heard that. He turned around and saw Richie standing next to him.

"Sorry, kid, I had something on my mind."

"A lot's been on your mind lately," Richie said as he sat down next to him, "Are you allright?"

"I'm fine," Methos tiredly replied, "Why?"

"Nobody's seen you lately."

"Well, I'm here every night," Methos answered.

"But where are you the rest of the day?" Richie asked.

Most of it had been in bed tossing and turning the last few days. Methos felt certain his had to have rings under his eyes or something, he certainly felt like it. He couldn't recall the last time he had a good night's sleep, every night he either had nightmares or he couldn't get to sleep.

Methos felt the quickening of another Immortal and soon heard MacLeod calling Richie. Great, that was just what he didn't need, everybody talking to him, getting on his case, trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

"Richie," Duncan said as he came up to them, "What's going on?"

"Nothing, Mac," he replied, "I was just getting ready to leave."

"Oh…allright, well I'll see you around then."

"Yeah, see ya," Richie said as he left.

"So what was that about?" Duncan asked Methos as he sat down beside him.

"Oh nothing, nothing..." Methos tried to think of a way to change the subject quickly, "What about you? What's new with you, MacLeod?"

"Nothing."

"Oh that's too bad…Joe!" Methos exercised his lungs, "How about another beer?"

"Haven't you had enough already?" Joe asked as he came up to them.

"Nope, just keep them coming," Methos replied as he looked into his empty glass.

Joe grabbed Methos by his hair and forced him to meet his eyes.

"Are you going to be driving tonight?"

"That depends on if I can even see when I leave," Methos told him.

Joe let go of his hair and went to get another bottle.

"Adam are you allright?" Duncan asked.

"I'm fine, I'm just tired is all," Methos said, "Isn't a man entitled to a little insomnia and restlessness every once in a while?"

Duncan leaned in close to Methos and said in his ear, "Not when there are people coming for his head."

Methos pulled away from him and said, "Tell me you never spent a night losing sleep."

"_I'm_ not the one who went 200 years without taking a head," Duncan said.

Methos folded his arms on the bar counter and laid his head down and closed his eyes.

"_Not_ funny."

Methos raised his head and called out, "Where's my beer?"

"Coming right up," Joe said as he slammed the bottle down next to him. Methos poured half the bottle into his glass, took a swig of it and then told Joe to put some vodka in with it.

"Adam, what's wrong with you?" Duncan asked.

"Nothing's wrong with me," Methos replied, "I just realized that I can't remember the last time I got blind, stinking drunk, and I think I'd like to try it again."

Joe put a bottle of vodka on the table and told MacLeod not to give Methos more than a shot's worth.

"You don't trust me not to drink the whole thing?" Methos asked.

"Right now, no I don't," Joe said.

"You don't trust me? What do I look like, an untrained dog?" He sniffed Joe's hand and said rather amusedly, "You've been with a woman."

Joe was wanted on stage but before he left he told MacLeod to keep an eye on Methos, something weird was going on with him. MacLeod moved both bottles away from Methos, "Okay, Adam, I think it's time we got you home…if we're lucky we may beat the hangover by a good couple of hours."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Methos told him.

"Adam, come on…"

Duncan grabbed Methos' arm but Methos kicked at him to let him go.

"I'm not leaving," Methos said.

Duncan leaned in close to Methos and said, "I'm going to get you out of here if I have to do it with you slung over my shoulder and kicking for five miles."

Methos through the corner of his eye saw some of the other bar hoppers watching them, and he knew they had heard him talking. Subtleness was _not_ MacLeod's strong suit. He looked up at MacLeod and said so they could all hear, "If you keep talking to me like that, dear, you're _not_ going to get me into bed with you tonight. Now leave me alone, let me finish my drink."

Methos poured a shot of vodka into the beer and was about to drink it when both he and MacLeod sensed another Immortal nearby. Methos looked to Duncan to see if he'd had any part in it but clearly MacLeod was as clueless about who it was as Methos was. He turned to the door and almost screamed when he saw who it was.

"Oh my God," was all he was able to say.

Duncan looked to the door as well and saw a man of regular build with short spiky hair and a long scar going down his face, step into the bar. Duncan could have sworn he had met the man somewhere before but he couldn't think of where.

Methos all but jumped out of his seat and went to see if this was real and not just a dream.

Kronos had no sooner walked in the door when he felt the quickening of another Immortal. He stood just two feet away from the door and he saw his brother walk up to him. When Methos got close enough to see that Kronos was real, he stopped, almost as if he were afraid. Kronos smiled as he greeted his brother with outstretched arms and said, "Don't just stand there, little brother, come here and give me a hug."

Methos ran into Kronos' arms and the two felt at home being reunited with one another after four years. Methos commented as Kronos picked him up off the ground, "It's so good to see you again, Brother."

Kronos put Methos down and said, "It's good to see you too, Brother. How've you been?"

"I'm fine," Methos replied, "Better now that you're here, though…come on, I'll pour you a drink."

They went over to the bar and Kronos sat down and when Methos reached over for the bottles, Kronos grabbed the back of Methos' large shirt.

"Oh oh," he said, "You haven't been eating lately, have you?"

Methos reached behind with one hand and slapped Kronos' away. "Cut it out," he said.

"Brother dear," Kronos crooned, "You know I don't like it when you lose weight, Lord knows your scrawny enough as it is already. Keep it up and I'm going to hogtie you onto my lap and feed you like the baby you're acting like."

"Kronos, knock it off," Methos warned him.

Kronos laughed, "I'm only kidding, come here."

Kronos grabbed Methos from behind by his hips and jerked Methos backwards, landing on Kronos' lap and once Kronos had him there, he snaked his arms around Methos' waist so he couldn't get away and started kissing him on the side of his face. Methos laughed and tried to get up but it was to no avail.

"Let go of me," he said.

"Why?" Kronos asked, "The fun's just beginning."

Methos laughed as he started trying to get out of Kronos' grip again.

"Come on, Kronos, stop it, everybody's going to be looking at us."

"This is a bar, it'll be a wonder if they're not all seeing pink elephants," Kronos replied.

"Kronos, please!" Methos laughed as he tried to get away, "Come on, let me up."

"Why?"

Kronos leaned into Methos and kissed him again and again and again.

"Kronos, please, this is your first night in town, we don't need to be making a scene so early," Methos said. Then a thought occurred to him and he turned around to face his brother, "What _are_ you doing in town anyway?"

"Well you know," Kronos said, "I hadn't seen you for a few years and I thought it was about time. I'm sorry I didn't come out sooner…I got your letters about the trial but at the time I had my own hands full with something."

"That's allright," Methos replied, "How long _are_ you going to be in town?"

"As long as I'm wanted," Kronos answered, "Am I?"

Methos nodded, "Yes, very much."

"Good."

Kronos finally let go of Methos and he got up to pour the drinks.

"So what's new that I don't already know about?" Kronos asked.

"Not much," Methos responded as he poured Kronos a boilermaker, "Not much at all."

He handed Kronos the glass, and he downed the liquor in one swig.

"Well I…" he looked at the glass and then back at Methos, "Don't they have anything stronger than this around here?"

Methos took the glass away from his brother and put it back on the counter.

"So when did you get into town?" Methos asked as he fixed another drink.

"Oh about an hour ago…you know you're really getting sloppy, in this town one of the easiest things to find out is where Adam Pierson goes in his off hours," Kronos told him.

Methos smiled sheepishly as he hung his head low and blushed. "Well we're none of us perfect."

Kronos took the drink and downed it in five seconds and put the empty glass back on the counter. Methos finished his own drink and started pouring the glasses full of vodka.

"So apparently," Kronos said in a lower tone, "You've been doing well to keep your true identity a secret."

"I try," Methos replied.

Kronos pulled Methos back onto his lap and started kissing him again while Methos laughed like the drunk he was.

"Don't start again," Methos said.

"Why not? I haven't seen you in four years, I think I'm entitled to it," Kronos replied.

Methos squirmed in Kronos' hold and said, "Can't you wait until we get home later?"

"Why should I?" Kronos asked, "We're already here."

"Kronos," Methos tried to get up, "Somebody's going to get the wrong idea about us."

"Then that's their problem, not ours. Now come on, Methos, I've been away for four years and you don't have something to give your brother?"

Methos turned his head and kissed Kronos on the cheek. Kronos seemed displeased by it.

"You call that a kiss?" he asked, "What mackerels have you been puckering up with?"

Methos turned around the best he could in the hold Kronos had him in, he put his hands on Kronos' shoulders as he leaned in and kissed him. Immediately following the kiss, Methos grew extremely tired and dropped his head on Kronos' shoulder and closed his eyes.

"Come on," Kronos said, "Let's get out of here."

"And go where?" Methos asked as he sat up.

Kronos got a good look at Methos' bloodshot eyes which he struggled to keep open.

"If this keeps up, to bed," Kronos said.

"But I'm not tired," Methos told him.

Kronos smiled and said, "Who said anything about sleep?"

Methos looked at him and laughed.

"How much have you had to drink tonight?" Kronos asked.

"Too damn much," Methos laughed as he recalled the six beers and half a bottle of vodka.

"Yeah, I imagine it'll be nicer when it all kicks in, to hit your head against the bedding instead of the floor," Kronos told him.

Methos laughed because despite what he had said, he was tired, too tired to even say anything.

Kronos stroked the back of Methos' head and said, "Come on, let's get you home."

Methos laughed as they stood up. "You'll _really_ think this place is ugly."

Kronos took Methos by the arm and the two left the bar. All this had occurred less than two feet way from where Duncan stood, and never during any of it had either Immortal so much as glanced his way.

Joe came up behind Duncan and asked him, "What's going on?"

Duncan turned around to face him and replied, "I don't know!"

"What happened?" Joe asked.

"Did you see the man that came in here?"

Joe shook his head, "I didn't see anybody. What happened?"

"It was another Immortal, he knew Methos," Duncan said.

"A challenge?"

Duncan shook his head, "No, I don't think it was that at all…they seemed to know each other so well."

"And he didn't introduce you?" Joe asked.

"No, he acted as if I wasn't even here," Duncan replied.

"Did you hear what his name was by any chance?" Joe asked.

Duncan tried to think.

"I think…I think Methos said his name was Kronos."

"Kronos?" Joe repeated, the look on his face told Duncan that he had no idea who that was, "Sounds like something out of the Dark Ages."

"Well, this _is_ the world's oldest man we're talking about," Duncan replied, "It may very well be."

Joe could tell that Duncan was concerned, so much lately seemed to be wrong with Methos and now a strange Immortal comes up out of nowhere.

"I'll see if I can find anything," Joe said.

"Thanks, Joe."

* * *

Methos felt like he was in Heaven, or as close to it as he would ever come. He was half asleep and he felt his head swimming, but he could also feel the gentle hand that stroked through his hair and the cool night air that relinquished the sickening feel of hot skin and a churning stomach that had earlier left him feeling like death.

Almost reluctantly, Methos opened his eyes and saw he was laying on Kronos' lap on a bench somewhere.

"Feeling better?" Kronos asked.

Methos sat up and realized the bench they were sitting on was one of the fancier tombs in a graveyard.

"What happened?" Methos asked.

"You _know_ you can't hold vodka," Kronos told him, "You drank half a bottle of it and what did you expect to happen? You threw up…and then you passed out."

"Oh no," Methos laughed as he buried his face in Kronos' shoulder, "How big of a mess did things get?"

"Don't worry, it's allright," Kronos told him, "Though it would seem that I came out here at just the right time if this is the kind of condition you wander off in."

It was then that Methos realized his arms were covered in gooseflesh and he was freezing.

"Where's my coat?" he asked.

"Right here," Kronos held it up, "I didn't think it'd do you much favors when heat is one of the worst things for a nauseated person. Are you feeling better now?"

A breeze came up and Methos started shivering.

"I think so but," he grabbed his coat, "I think I'll be needing this now."

"Are you ready to go home?" Kronos asked.

"I don't know," Methos replied, "I…I don't think so."

"Well what _are_ you in the mood for?"

"I…" Methos started laughing.

"What is it?" Kronos asked.

"Well now I'm hungry," Methos said.

Kronos about fell off the bench from laughing so hard.

"Well then," he said as they got up, "Where's the place around here that serves the best food?"

"Oh, uh…" Methos was trying to remember but his mind was coming up blank.

"Oh well it doesn't matter," Kronos said, "I spotted a place coming into town, we'll get something to eat and then we'll get a few drinks and we'll catch up on the last few years, but no more vodka for you."

Methos laughed as they left the cemetery. He grabbed Kronos' arm and walked next to him, suddenly feeling like a dark cloud in his life had just disappeared

"I love you, Kronos," he said.

Kronos smiled and replied, "Save that for when the rest of the booze is out of your system, wait until the hangover passes and _then_ tell me you love me."

Methos smiled and rested his head on Kronos' shoulder as they walked along in the night.

* * *

"Nothing?" Duncan asked the next morning.

Joe shook his head, "Sorry Mac, I couldn't find _anything_ on anybody under the name Kronos, are you sure you heard it right?"

"I think so…thing of it is I would swear I'd seen him from somewhere before, but I just can't place it."

"Well obviously he doesn't remember you," Joe said, "Otherwise he would've said something, wouldn't he?"

"Maybe…or maybe he just didn't notice me…the same way Methos completely forgot I was there once Kronos came in."

Joe started to laugh but he tried to cover it.

"What is it?" Duncan asked.

"I didn't know you had green eyes," Joe said.

"What?" Duncan started to walk over to the mirror when it hit him what Joe was saying. "Ha-ha, very funny, Joe."

"I thought it was," Joe replied.

"I'm _not_ jealous," Duncan said, "I'm concerned. Last night Kronos said he was taking Methos home, I figured that meant Methos' apartment, I called him two hours last night, he never answered."

"Maybe he meant _his_ home," Joe thought.

"I hope not, otherwise we may never find him," Duncan said, "Methos had a lot to drink last night...he could barely even stand up when they left…if that other Immortal tried anything with him…"

Joe watched Duncan pace back and forth. It was little after six in the morning and neither had had a restful night. Joe had at least gotten some sleep but Duncan looked like he'd just paced the floors all night long.

"Did you ever to get to sleep last night?" Joe asked.

Duncan shook his head, "I'm going to call again and see if he answers."

"It's six o' clock in the morning and he had six beers and a bottle of vodka last night," Joe told him, "You'll be lucky if he can even _find_ the phone after that."

Duncan ignored Joe's comment and dialed Adam Pierson's number for the hundredth time. It rang once, twice, three times…

"_Hello?"_ a tired voice said.

"Adam?"

"_Oh, it's you…for a minute I thought it was somebody."_

"Adam, are you allright?" Duncan asked.

"_Uh…yeah, I'm fine, are you?"_

"Did you get home okay last night?"

"_Uh…yeah, yeah I got home just fine. Why? Did something happen last night?"_

You tell me, Duncan wanted to say but he didn't dare, he fought with himself to keep from asking 'Who was that Immortal you were with last night? Where did you go with him?'

"No, we just wanted to make sure that you were allright after what you had to drink."

He heard Methos laugh a tired, pathetic laugh. _"I've been drinking like this since I was younger than you, just we didn't have drinking limits set so low back then…good day."_

"Adam," Duncan said, "Are you going to be coming by the bar today?"

"_Uh…yeah, sure, did something come up that I don't know about?"_

"Not as far as we know," Duncan replied.

"_Allright then, I'll be in this afternoon."_

"Okay, goodbye, Adam."

"Well?" Joe asked when Duncan hung up.

"He says that he got home just fine, nothing happened," Duncan said, "He didn't even mention that other guy."

"Well, Methos is over 5,000 years old, I think he knows what he's doing," Joe said, "Now, I'm going to go home and go back to sleep, good day, MacLeod."

"Bye, Joe, I'm sorry," Duncan said.

"Ah," Joe waved him off, "Forget about it, it's what you do, you concern yourself with the well being of others, I should be used to it by now. At least now we know Methos is allright."

* * *

Methos hung up the phone and lay back against the pillows and closed his eyes.

"Who was it?"

Methos turned on his side and looked at the figure laying on the other side of the bed.

"Nobody," Methos replied, "Nothing you need to worry about."

"You're not lying to me, are you?" Kronos asked.

"Would I?" Methos asked.

"Yes," Kronos answered.

"Well I'm not."

"Oh?"

The weight shifted in the bed and Kronos pinned himself on top of Methos. Even in the dark room Methos could see that sinister smirk on his brother's face.

"Jealousy doesn't look well on you, Kronos," Methos told him.

"If it's nothing like you say it is, what have I to be jealous about?" Kronos asked.

Methos tiredly laughed, "You have _always_ been jealous, Kronos."

"So I am, so what?" he replied, "As long as I'm alive, nobody's going to take you away from me again."


	5. Chapter 5

The night before, after they left the cemetery had been a time that Methos couldn't even explain it all if he had to because he wasn't quite sure of what all did happen. He remembered that Kronos took him to a bar and grill on the far side of town where over dinner they spent an hour catching up on what each other had been doing for four years. Methos explained about Kalas and Salzer's dying, about Alexa and the final months of her life. Also he explained in better details about the Watchers putting Joe Dawson on trial for treason, and the whole mess with Jacob Galati. Kronos just sat at the other side of the table and listened, and at the end of it all, all he had to say was, 'And what happened after that?'

Methos laughed and replied, "No, I told you about what I've been up to, now it's your turn."

"I told you before," Kronos said, "There's nothing to tell, I keep to myself at all times."

"Really?" Methos asked, "Doesn't that get tired after a while?"

"Not really," Kronos insisted, "I've met damn few people in my life who ever interested me much."

Kronos ordered them two bottles of wine and they spent the next hour or so talking. Then the room started spinning for Methos and Kronos picked that as the perfect time to pull him out of his chair and out to the middle of the floor to dance. Methos laughed and told his brother, "I can't dance, I've got crows."

"Crows?" Kronos asked, "You mean corns."

"A hundred years ago they were corns, then the crows ate them and stayed," Methos replied.

"Come on," Kronos pulled him along.

"Oh no," Methos laughed, "I can't, I'll look ridiculous, we both will."

"So what?" Kronos asked.

Methos laughed and tried to pull away but Kronos wasn't a man who could be reasoned with. His brother was and always had been as Methos recalled, a most incorrigible man who when he set his mind to something, wouldn't give it a second thought, no matter who came out of it looking like a jackass. The alcohol in Methos' system had set in enough that the entire room was already spinning before they were, and he was too tired to argue. He lay his head on Kronos' shoulder and enjoyed the pace that they were moving at. There weren't words that existed in any language that could describe how it felt to be this close to his brother again, and not living in fear that Kronos would take his head. Being with Kronos now, made him feel safe, and it made him feel as if he had been lost for thousands of years, but now he'd found his way back.

Methos raised his head and watched as the bright and colored lights in the room went spinning around faster than the two of them were moving. What happened after that he didn't know, but the next thing he knew he was falling on his bed with Kronos laying alongside him. Kronos undressed himself, then crawled on top of Methos and started removing his clothes as well.

"What time is it?" Methos asked.

"Three in the morning."

"Well that's a relief," Methos replied, "For a minute I thought it was getting late."

Kronos smiled as he threw Methos' shirt and jeans on the floor and brought the sheets up on him and kissed Methos on the forehead.

"Thank you for coming back," Methos said.

"Go to sleep," Kronos told him, "I'm not going to disappear on you when you close your eyes."

Methos reached up and clung to Kronos for a moment as he kissed him.

"I love you, Brother," Methos said.

"I know, now go to sleep."

* * *

The morning's usual rays of sunlight failed to shine in through the windows today. Methos guessed it was going to storm since it had to be well past 8 o' clock by now.

"What time is it?" he asked Kronos as he turned on his side.

Kronos picked up the clock next to the bed, and he had to turn it upside down and right side up again before he could figure out how to make sure he was reading the damned thing right.

"It's going on 10 o' clock," Kronos answered.

Methos groaned as he pushed back the covers, "I better get up, then," he said, "I'm going to the bar this afternoon and I better pretty myself up before I go, and make myself presentable."

"When were you _ever_ presentable?" Kronos asked.

"Ha-ha," Methos dryly replied as he got out of bed.

"What're you going to the bar for anyway?"

"I've been going about every day," Methos said, "I think I have to come in and clear something up."

"But what?" Kronos asked.

"I'm not sure yet," Methos answered.

"What the hell? I'll come too," Kronos said as he got out of the bed.

"That's not necessary," Methos said.

"And what am I supposed to do while you're gone? Pace around the apartment until you come back, waiting on you like a housecat?"

"Well," Methos said as he got a change of clothes out of his closet, "It _would_ be a nice change of pace."

Kronos growled like a mad dog and tried to charge Methos, but Methos proved too fast for him.

"So does this mean you're embarrassed to be seen with me?" Kronos asked.

"That," Methos replied, "Depends on what we did last night."

Methos went into the bathroom and turned on the shower and waited for the water to get hot. He was trying to think exactly what was going on. Exactly what was it that MacLeod was acting so jumpy about? What had happened last night that he didn't know about? He stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain shut behind him only for Kronos to come into the room and pull it open immediately afterwards.

"If you don't want me going with you to the bar, that's fine, just don't act like you're embarrassed of your own brother," Kronos told him.

"Embarrassed of you?" Methos feigned innocence, "Impossible."

* * *

As 1 o' clock rolled around, Duncan, Joe and Richie were all at the bar anxiously awaiting Methos to show up. Richie, having missed everything last night, was hammering Duncan for details about what was going on.

"And you never saw this guy before?" Richie asked.

"Well I don't know, I think I have but I just can't think of where, and he clearly didn't seem to remember me either," Duncan said, "That, or he had other things on his mind."

"But Methos is allright, isn't he?" Richie asked.

"I don't know, he said he was, but he sounded pretty out of it this morning," Duncan replied.

"Of course, even an Immortal can put away too many drinks and feel like hell the next day," Joe commented.

"Yeah, but Methos?" Richie asked, "That guy has to have been drinking all his life, you'd think he'd be immune to it by now."

"Well, that could be…but then again, has anybody here ever seen him down half a bottle of vodka before?" Joe asked, "I've known the guy for over 10 years and I haven't. Maybe it didn't set well with him."

"That's all the more reason why I'm worried," Duncan said, "You know what happens when an Immortal too drunk to know what's going on, is in the same area as another Immortal."

"Yeah, but apparently he got through the night with his head intact," Joe replied, "And if the guy didn't want that…"

Duncan and Richie turned around and watched as Methos entered through the front door.

"Oh boy," Methos said, "First time I set foot out of my apartment all day and already there's six eyes focused on me, this can't be good."

"Adam, you're allright!" Richie realized.

Methos stopped and looked first to Richie, and then to MacLeod, as if he was trying to figure out what was going on.

"Well I sure hope that's not going to become a running theme around here," Methos said, "So what was it you wanted to see me about?"

All of a sudden, Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod was very tight lipped. He didn't say anything and neither did Joe, so Richie turned back to Methos and asked him, "Who was that guy you were with last night?"

Aw hell. Of all the ways for his day to start out, and already people were asking about Kronos. Methos couldn't remember _all_ the details from last night but one he did remember was telling Kronos they were going to be drawing attention to themselves. And how was he going to answer them?

"Well…he's a friend of mine who I hadn't seen for a while…if we made a big scene in front of everybody, Joe, I'm sorry."

Joe shook his head and said, "I didn't even see what happened last night, Mac did."

Oh this was a fine mess he was sinking into.

"Well, MacLeod," Methos said, "I guess we gave quite a show for you to see."

"That would be an understatement," Duncan replied.

Now Methos was stuck, exactly _what_ was he supposed to say?

"I already apologized…last night I was just feeling out of it…the last time I saw him was four years ago, and before that…" he shook his head, "I guess you might say it was just overwhelming."

"Well," Joe said, "We're just glad you're allright, we were worried about you for a while."

"I guess I can understand that," Methos replied.

"Well if you'll excuse me," Richie said, "I've got to get going."

Richie grabbed his helmet and left the bar and headed down to the next block where he'd had to park his bike because of some crowd that blocked the street earlier that day. As soon as he got down onto the next block, he was hit by another quickening. He turned around to see if somebody had followed him.

"Mac?" he called.

No response. Richie wasn't sure what was going on but he decided it was in his best interest to keep moving. He took two more steps and collided with another guy.

"Sorry about that, I…"

Richie stopped in mid sentence and took a step back when he realized who he'd bumped into.

* * *

It was after 5 o' clock and pouring down cats and dogs when Methos got him. He slammed the door shut and walked in, "Kronos, I'm home, I'm hungry and I hate everything."

Kronos came out of the kitchen to see what was the matter. Methos was drenched to the bone as he wriggled out of his trenchcoat.

"Where have you been?" Kronos asked.

"I went for a walk," Methos replied.

"How long were you in the rain?" Kronos asked.

"Well let's see, the rain started at about three o' clock so…two hours," Methos answered as he sat down at the table.

Kronos got a good look at Methos and he looked like a cat somebody tried to throw in the river, and Kronos laughed.

"Poor thing," he said, "What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Methos replied.

"Fine, but just remember that we're sharing a bed tonight and if I don't sleep, neither will you," Kronos reminded him.

Methos looked up at him and said, "I'm not embarrassed of you, Kronos, I just don't like having to explain you, anymore than I like having to explain myself, and that's what I had to do today."

Kronos sat down by Methos and let him explain.

"A friend of mine saw us at the bar last night and he was wondering what exactly happened…well I didn't know what to tell him, I would've been happy not having to tell him anything, but I had to explain something. I said that I was overcome with seeing you again after four years, that and I had a lot to drink last night, I had hoped that would be explanation enough. He didn't quite let it go at that however."

"What all did you tell them?" Kronos asked.

"Nothing," Methos shook his head, "I kept it all as vague as possible."

"Well then maybe I could do some damage control," Kronos said, "If you want, I could go down there and explain myself."

"No," Methos replied, "That's allright Kronos…I figure I'll just lay low until you leave and then I'll figure out something to tell them that'll tide them over."

"Well come on," Kronos said, "Dinner's going to be getting cold."

Methos shivered as he got up from the table, "I know the feeling."

"Take those wet things off first," Kronos told him, "You look like a drowned cat, a mangy one at that."

Methos went into his bedroom and took off his clothes and slipped into a set of dry clothes and tried to warm up. He hadn't noticed how cold the rain was while he was walking in it but now that he was out of it he felt like he'd been caught out in a snowstorm instead. He supposed the reason he didn't feel it at the time was because after talking with MacLeod, he felt like he was burning up. Having to explain himself for having friends other than those MacLeod knew, it made Methos so angry he wasn't sure there existed any words to describe it.

He joined Kronos in the kitchen and found the table set with a lit candelabra in the center and two glasses of wine poured.

"Is something going on that I should know about?" Methos asked.

"Yeah, the power's expected to go out tonight," Kronos replied, "Heard that this afternoon right after the rain started."

Methos sat down at the table and felt like a heel for being gone so long.

"I'm sorry I left you in the lurch today," he said.

"Think nothing of it, it's certainly not the first time I was stood up," Kronos said as he dished up their food, "I never did tell you about the runaway marriage I had in 1950, did I?"

"No you didn't."

"Ah, I met this woman who was attending medical school, and we planned to get married, I went to apply for the marriage license, and she ran away to work as a surgeon in North Korea during the war."

Methos choked on his wine when he heard that, and he would swear part of it came out his nose.

"Kronos, I'm sorry," he laughed.

"Ah well, she was a nice woman but you needed to tie an anchor to her waist to keep her anywhere for long," Kronos said, "If I could run faster than I do I might've been able to keep up with her."

"So what did you do all afternoon while I was gone?" Methos asked.

"Well I went out for a while," Kronos told him, "I thought about tailing you to see what would happen but I decided against it…anywhere you'd go by yourself can't be that interesting."

"So what did you do?" Methos asked.

"Oh not much, just had some fun scaring the hell out of the locals."

Methos laughed again when he heard that.

"That sounds like something you'd do."

* * *

Later that night after dinner, the storm picked up and as Kronos had figured, the power had gone out. The storm showed no signs of letting up soon and Kronos was trying to figure a way to keep Methos from having another reaction to it later that night. He figured maybe he could get his brother too drunk to be aware of anything in the outside world once he was asleep. Usually when Methos was awake, storms didn't bother him, but after he had gone to sleep and had a chance to dream, then everything got shot to hell.

"This should be a barren source of amusement," Methos commented.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll think of something to do," Kronos said.

Methos picked up the candelabra and went searching through a set of drawers.

"What're you doing?" Kronos asked.

"I had a deck of cards in here earlier…"

"Forget the cards."

"Well what would you suggest we do to make the time pass?" Methos asked as they went over to the couch, "Go out on the stoop and watch the rain? Maybe play lightning rod?"

"Let's talk."

Uh oh, already this wasn't sounding good.

"What about?"

"This friend you went to see today," Kronos said, "Who is he? What's he to you, really?"

Methos dropped onto the couch and looked at Kronos with wide eyes as he tried to think of how to answer.

"I don't know," was all he could say, "I really don't know what MacLeod _is_ to me."

"Well you said he was your friend, is he a good one?"

Methos couldn't answer and instead he shifted his gaze to the dark floor.

"I see," Kronos said as he sat down beside Methos, "Then why do you stay?"

"I don't think I can answer that either, Kronos," Methos replied, "Except that even if I don't keep the best company, it's better than what I have had for a good number of years…I'm too old to turn tail and start again somewhere else without a reason for leaving."

"Well maybe I ought to meet this friend of yours," Kronos suggested, "Maybe I can figure out the attraction."

"You don't have to do that, Kronos."

"Well, you've already admitted this friend of yours is far from the best company you could keep, I don't like the idea of not knowing who he is, or anything about him. If the day comes that I have to hunt him down like the dog he is, I want an idea of what I'm looking for."

"I wish you wouldn't talk like that," Methos said.

"I wish you would give me more credibility, what're you worried about?" Kronos asked, "You think I'm going to embarrass you?"

"It's not that, Kronos…I don't know what it is."

A thunderclap exploded and a flash of lightning filled the room, and yet there was something about it that didn't set well with Methos. He got up from the couch and went over to the window with Kronos right behind him.

"What is it?" Kronos asked.

Methos looked out and tried to see what it was he was trying to find. And he saw it, so far away from where they stood that he could hardly see it.

"Look, Kronos."

Kronos looked, he looked as far across the town as he could from the window and he finally saw it, a storm of light that rotated almost in a cyclone as explosions occurred left and right of it.

"Dear God," Methos said.

"Think it's someone you know?" Kronos asked.

Methos shook his head, he sincerely hoped not.

Kronos remained at the window but his eyes glanced toward his brother to see if Methos was going to make a dash to the door to find out who had won, and who had lost the fight. But Methos didn't move an inch from where he stood. Kronos grabbed Methos' arm and told him, "Come on."

"Where're we going?" Methos asked.

"I think I'm going to put you to bed," Kronos said.

"But I'm not tired," Methos pulled away from him.

Kronos laughed as he continued to the bedroom, "That may be but you've had enough to drink tonight to put everybody in Hackensack to sleep, you're barely able to stand on your own two feet. Why, I bet if I blew on you, you'd fall over like a ton of bricks."

He had barely gotten the last word out when Methos jumped him from behind. Methos leaped onto Kronos' back and wrapped one arm around Kronos' neck pinning him in an awkward headlock and they both fell to the floor. In the process, Kronos threw Methos over him so he pinned his brother beneath him. Methos squirmed out of the hold and kicked Kronos in the jaw and sent him falling against the floor.

"What was that you were saying?" Methos asked as he sat on his brother's chest.

"I said get off me you old crow," Kronos grabbed Methos by the waist and threw him to the floor and rolled on top of him.

Methos sent his knee up which connected with Kronos' crotch and Kronos the old, immune to most things bastard though he was, wasn't able to stop himself from rolling over on all fours moaning and grunting. Methos jumped on his back again and the two spent the next half hour trying to pin each other down.

* * *

Who won the fight, neither knew the answer, but the next thing Kronos knew was he woke up still on the floor with a pain in his neck and his brother laying on top of him, using his chest like a pillow. Kronos jerked his head from one side to the other and heard it crick twice and then pop like a snapped wishbone. He rolled Methos off of him and onto the floor alongside him; Methos never woke up. Kronos stroked his fingers through Methos' short hair and lightly scratched at his scalp as if Methos were a dog.

"Methos, wake up."

Methos didn't respond so Kronos gave him a shove that got his attention more than it moved him.

"What is it?" Methos tiredly asked.

"Get up and go to bed," Kronos told him.

Methos raised his head and saw where they were and laid back down, "Oh give me a break."

Kronos rolled onto his stomach and got on his knees and he grabbed Methos and stood the both of them up.

"Come on," he said as he pushed Methos over to the bedroom, "Take your clothes off and get into bed."

Methos sat down on the bed and pushed Kronos away and started to undress himself, grumbling the entire time. When he had stripped down to his T-shirt and his boxers, he lay down against the pillows and pulled up the covers. Kronos slipped into the other side of the bed and came up behind Methos. A minute later Methos threw back the covers and got up.

"Where're you going?" Kronos asked.

"I'm going to get a shower," Methos replied.

"You took one this morning," Kronos reminded him, "Keep it up and you'll make yourself sick from too much washing."

Methos ignored his brother's comment and headed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind him. Kronos then realized that the power was on again. He looked at the clock and saw it was going on midnight. Outside the storm seemed to have stop for which he was thankful because he was in no mood to put up with Methos' returning violent fits as a result of his nightmares.

Twenty minutes later Methos reemerged from the bathroom and crawled back into bed beside Kronos.

"Now go to sleep," Kronos told him.

"Yeah yeah," Methos tiredly replied as he all but hugged the pillows behind his head.

They both closed their eyes and settled down to sleep, and it was then that Kronos noticed something, and he started to sit up again.

"What's that smell?"

Methos took a loud whiff and replied, "I don't smell anything."

Kronos inched closer to Methos and sniffed and said, "Are you wearing something?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," Methos tiredly remarked.

Kronos all but crawled onto Methos' back and smelled the back of his neck. "You _are_ wearing something…what in the hell are you doing wearing perfume?"

Methos reached behind himself and slapped Kronos' hand off him. "Leave me alone you old goat."

Kronos moved back a few inches so he wasn't on top of Methos anymore, and he tapped Methos on the shoulder to get his attention from a different approach.

"Why _are_ you wearing it?" he asked again.

Methos turned even further on his side and tried to bury his face in the pillows. He didn't want to make anything close to eye contact when he explained.

"It was Alexa's. Before she had to be hospitalized, she wore it every night…I've about gotten that I can't sleep without it anymore, crazy as it sounds."

Kronos crawled onto Methos' back again and took another whiff of the perfume. It burnt his nose without even coming into direct contact with the damned stuff.

"How much alcohol do they put in that?" he asked.

Methos laughed once, "Not nearly enough to make it suitable for drinking."

Kronos rolled back over to his own side of the bed and for the life of him couldn't imagine what happened to that woman that she thought _that_ was an improvement. But damn if he was going to say anything about it.

"Goodnight, Brother," he said.

"Goodnight," Methos replied.

* * *

What neither man was aware of was that down below in the street that the apartment overlooked, there stood a man who had unfinished business with the both of them. He had spotted them together the night before and now that he knew where they were, he was going to keep his eye on them until the time was right.


	6. Chapter 6

The next day, Kronos and Methos returned to the bar, not to clear up anything else with anyone, but simply to get out of the apartment. The place wasn't crowded yet but other than Joe, there wasn't anyone around that Methos recognized. Instead of returning to the bar for service, they picked a table that was about as far away from the entrance as they could get.

"Now tell it to me again," Kronos said.

"I told you three times already," Methos replied.

"So tell it to me again," Kronos told him.

"What is it that you don't understand?" Methos asked.

"You just told me that this guy Kalas was coming after you, what for?"

"One guess."

"But how did he find out about you?" Kronos asked.

"Oh by this time about everybody's heard about me," Methos told him.

"But that doesn't explain how he found you."

"Well he came to my apartment looking for Adam Pierson…I wasn't there and he…"

Methos started laughing and he couldn't finish explaining.

"He what?" Kronos asked.

Methos pulled on Kronos' jacket for him to lean in closer and he whispered the rest of it in Kronos' ear, after which Kronos started laughing and buried his face into the table.

"And how," he said when he came back up, "How have you made it to be as old as you are?"

"I may be clumsy but I'm still here," Methos told him.

"Well let's keep it that way," Kronos said.

A waitress came around and they ordered a couple of beers and as soon as she disappeared they resumed in their conversation.

"And how did Kalas die?" Kronos asked.

"Old age," Methos joked.

"_Who_ did it?" Kronos asked, "Was it you?"

"Me? Oh no, I fought with him once and we both wound up tumbling into the seine."

"That must have been quite an experience," Kronos said.

"You're telling me, of all the things I did in my life, acrobatics was never one of them, you thought my back had a kink four years ago, you should've seen it after I got out of the water."

Kronos laughed again as he pulled Methos close and kissed him on the back of the head, "Poor thing. So who did kill him?"

"Somebody more determined than even I was," Methos replied.

As if on some cue, Methos felt the quickening of another Immortal approaching. He slightly turned his head to see the door and saw MacLeod walk in, and suddenly he wanted to sink down to the floor. Kronos on the other hand seemed to disregard the oncoming quickening completely.

"Now tell me, what did you do before now?" Kronos asked.

Methos tried to forget about MacLeod and tried to get back in on the conversation.

"Oh no," he said, "I'm tired about talking about myself, what have _you_ been up to these last few hundred years?"

"Well, let's see…" Kronos was interrupted as the waitress returned with their drinks, "Thank you." When she had gone he turned back to his brother and said, "Let's see…you recall in 1929 when the banks failed and the people who had all their money invested in them went diving out of windows?"

"Yes, in fact if memory serves," Methos said, "One of them fell on me."

"I knew a few people like that at the time," Kronos said, "They went out the windows allright, but not all of them jumped…a few of them I gave a hand to."

"Somehow I don't feel I should be surprised," Methos replied, "What about after that?"

"Well let's see…when the war broke out in…1939, I…"

"Adam," Duncan said as he came up to their table.

"Ah shit," Methos said under his breath.

Kronos hadn't heard him.

"What'd you say?" Kronos asked.

"I said…"

"Adam," Duncan said again as he came up next to Methos, "What's going on?"

Methos ignored him completely and focused on Kronos.

"In 1939 you what?"

"Well I had an idea…I'd been in Germany and got a good look at the Nazi aircraft and I came back to the states, and I knew somebody who worked for a company manufacturing warplanes…so I told him if we could make one of our planes look like one of _their_ planes, then we could blow them to hell as soon as we came in for a landing…that way they would lower their guards and we could come in close enough to exterminate them without taking out any innocent bystanders…and it worked too."

"Adam," Duncan was now poking Methos on the shoulder. Methos ignored him completely except when he reached over and shoved MacLeod away.

"What happened once you reached the ground, though?" Methos asked.

"Well before coming over, I also had another associate of mine tailor some suits to resemble what the Nazis wore…for being the Supreme Race and above all others, those bastards were dumber than the fox who gave the snake a ride on his back," Kronos explained.

Methos laughed at the very mention of it because it was something he could see his brother doing allright.

"You should've seen the looks on their face when they found out, of course by that time it was too late, they were already dead before they could fully realize what had happened," Kronos said.

Kronos started choking on a laugh that was building up inside of him, it seemed that he was having too much of a good time in remembering.

MacLeod meanwhile was torn between listening to what this man had to say, and trying to get Methos' attention, only to be completely ignored at every turn.

"I transferred to Warsaw, I walked the streets at night just waiting for them to come around…in the dark of night they couldn't tell a comrade from a Polish native…but they were all the same, their orders all came straight from the top, and they'd sooner die than not worship their leader."

An idea formed in Methos' mind before Kronos could explain it.

"And they died _because_ they did," he concluded.

Kronos' sinister smirk only grew when he heard that.

"That's why you were always the one I counted on," Kronos said, "You always had a way of coming to the answers before anybody else. Yes, that's exactly what happened, I called out a Heil and as soon as they reciprocated, they were met with a bullet between the eyes…shot by a 'fellow comrade'," he started laughing again, "They were so stupid it was unbelievable that they could be in power for as long as they were."

"I suppose next you're going to say _you_ were the one who killed Hitler and that he didn't commit suicide," Methos said.

"No," Kronos shook his head, "That little bastard got ahead of me on that one."

"But I don't understand," Methos replied, "Just _why_ did you do it?"

"Why did I do what?" Kronos asked.

"Any of it," Methos said, "All of it, what made you decide to go over there during the war to take on the Nazis?"

Kronos shrugged his shoulders innocently enough, though Methos knew him better than that, "It's what everybody wanted to do and not everybody could pull off…killing Shicklegruber was particularly what everybody wanted and nobody could accomplish…but had I been a day quicker in getting there…" the rest went unsaid and the silence was explanatory enough.

For a moment, Methos was speechless and not only could he not come up with anything else to say, he didn't even try. There had been few times in all the years that the two brothers knew each other that they felt they could fully understand each other, and this was certainly no exception. It wasn't something that could be reasoned with, or explained, only understood.

Kronos ended the moment when he added right out of nowhere, "Although 1921 could have stood to be a better year."

"Why?" Methos asked, "What happened?"

Kronos laughed once, placing humor in a situation that was anything but, "Remember that dirigible the British Navy built? The one that broke in half and exploded when it went over the Hull?"

Methos had to stop for a moment and try to remember. He wasn't there in person to see it but he could recall the stories of the tragedy.

"Now you don't mean to tell me you were one of the crew onboard when it burst into flames," Methos said.

"Of course not…half of it exploded, the other half went into the water where I was coming up from bathing…it went down and took me with it…you can't imagine how difficult it was to explain that one when the police dragged me out of there," Kronos said.

Methos laughed at the idea and tried to muffle the noise by taking another swig of his beer.

Duncan took this opportunity to try again to get Methos' attention.

"Adam," he shook Methos' shoulder.

Kronos slapped at MacLeod's hand but otherwise ignored him.

"Now tell me," Kronos said to Methos, "Where were _you_ during the war?"

Methos' gaze shifted upwards as he tried to remember.

"You must remember _something_ of those years, it wasn't that long ago," Kronos said.

"Air raid," Methos replied.

Kronos looked at him, waiting for Methos to continue.

"The bomb dropped, everything went up in flames," Methos recalled, "Everything around me was black with smoke, my lungs filled with it immediately…I fell to the floor, there were people jumping over me, somebody grabbed me to try and help me up…my skin came off in their hands."

"I remember those days rather well," Kronos said.

"Those were absolutely _dreadful_ times, I was glad when it was all finally over," Methos recalled.

"That's understandable," Kronos noted.

Methos looked over at Kronos with eyes that were tired but refused to rest, "Tell me," he said, "Where were you when the bomb went off?"

By the way he said it, Kronos didn't need to ask what bomb, he knew.

"Probably the same place as you…in the middle of it, being burnt alive to a blackened cinder, wondering if it was ever going to end," he answered.

Methos sat in silence for a moment before he replied, more so to himself than to his brother, "Mankind has certainly proven itself a dangerous breed."

"Yes," Kronos agreed, "And just think if they used the other 90 of their brains how much worse they could make things."

Methos laughed at the idea, even if it did seem to ring true.

"What about Whitechapel?" Methos asked, "Were you there?"

"Who wasn't?" Kronos asked.

Methos looked at him coyly, without saying a word, questioning what exactly his brother's motives were for being in London when Jack the Ripper, a man to this day never identified, was running around terrorizing people.

"You'd love to hear that, wouldn't you?" Kronos asked, "Well sorry to burst your bubble but I was on the other side of that particular fence."

"Oh really?" Methos didn't sound fully convinced.

"Yes…one night I saw a figure in a long black coat and tall hat sneaking off, I followed him, I figured I had him. I grabbed him by the arm, only for him to turn around and reveal that I had been chasing a woman for six blocks."

Methos about fell out of his chair laughing when Kronos mentioned that, and after a moment he was able to compose himself long enough to ask, "What happened?"

"She screamed blue murder, jerked on _my_ arm until my wrist broke, then beat the hell out of me with her shoe, that's what happened…" Kronos' eyes rolled as he recalled the night, "All of a sudden there everybody was looking at me as if _I_ were the murderer, there were people with torches and pitchforks, all ready to send me back to hell while the real psycho was still roaming the streets free as a bird."

"Now wait a minute," Methos said, "Hitler I can understand, but why were you trying to catch Jack the Ripper?"

Kronos just shrugged his shoulders again and responded, "It was a slow week, there was nothing else to do, I figured why the hell not? But I'll tell you something, if Jack the Ripper had met with _that_ woman, he would have killed himself, and considering the circumstances, perhaps he _did_. Actually, now that I think of it, she reminded me of a woman I used to be married to."

Methos choked on his beer when he heard that.

"How's that?" he asked.

"Well…tell you the truth I can't even recall now _why_ I married her…not a day went by it seems that she didn't complain about something, or scream at me over something I did or didn't do…and God forbid I should be late coming up from work because there she'd be on the front porch swinging a nightstick just waiting to clout me over the head with it," Kronos told him.

"So why did you stay married to her?" Methos asked.

"It felt nice to be at home again."

Methos tiredly and sheepishly smirked when Kronos said that. "I've been meaning to talk to you about something," he said.

"What?" Kronos asked.

Methos started to answer but when through the corners of his eyes he was reminded that MacLeod was still close by enough to hear he said, "I'll tell you when we get home."

"Hmm," that seemed to interest Kronos, "This might be good, maybe we should get going now." Then an idea came to him, "In fact once we get home I think…"

He reached across the table and pulled Methos over closer to him and made his suggestion directly into Methos' ear so no flies on the wall could eavesdrop. Methos laughed and pushed Kronos and commented, "You're horrible."

"So I am, so what?" Kronos asked, "I think we've about worn out our welcome here for the afternoon anyway."

Methos seemed to agree, he finished his drink and the two got up from the table and left the bar. Once again Duncan found himself dumbstruck by what had just happened.

"Hey!" he heard as Joe came up to him, "What's going on?"

"I have no idea," Duncan honestly replied, "Methos was here again with that other Immortal, and I tried to talk to him but he just ignored me, they both acted as if I weren't here at all. I don't know what's going on, but I know that I don't like it."

"Well I don't know what to tell you," Joe said, "I've checked everything I could, and nothing came up. This guy whoever he is seems to have really slipped through the cracks."

"I don't like it," Duncan said again, "There's something going on that Methos isn't explaining."

"Well, I know you don't like hearing it but that is his right, and that's just about what's expected of him _not_ to tell us," Joe responded.

"I know," Duncan said, "But I just can't get over the idea that something's wrong."

"Well what do you recommend?" Joe asked.

"I don't know, maybe…maybe I'll go see him later and see what he has to say about it all."

"You can try," Joe said, "But if he's not telling you now, it could be a good chance he won't."

* * *

Kronos watched in somewhat amusement as he watched Methos. Once again he had found his brother sprawled out in the bed in the middle of the day. Kronos went over to the bed and drew the covers up on him, and that woke him up. Methos looked around the room as if trying to remember where he was, and then it hit him.

"Not again," he groaned.

"How much sleep do you _usually_ get when I'm not here?" Kronos asked.

"Believe me, I usually do better than this," Methos said, "I'm ordinarily _not_ dozing off in the middle of the day."

Kronos smirked and said, "Perhaps having me out here is just overwhelming. Though I suppose I can understand it…probably a relief to have somebody around you don't have to worry about them trying for your head."

"I don't know _why_ I've been doing this lately," Methos said as he sat up, "But…"

Before he could finish what he had to say, he became dizzy and hit his head against the pillows again.

"Well look," Kronos said, "There's nothing we need to run off and do so why don't you rest?"

There was something to the power of suggestion, Methos was half asleep again before he could reply. Kronos drew the covers up on him again and slipped out of the room and once again back to the kitchen with another one of Methos' journals. This was something he'd been sitting on his hands for four years to get back to.

Just as he cracked the book open, he felt another quickening nearby. He got up from the table and went to see who it was, and where they were. It wasn't close enough to the door, and it also wasn't close enough to wake up Methos, so Kronos decided the first place to look would be directly below. He looked out the window and got his answer. There was a kid down in the street, the same one that he'd seen the other day outside of the bar. Oh he had a good time scaring the hell out of that boy, and here he was again but what for? Well, Kronos could guess that.

The kid had pulled up on a motorcycle and when he got off, removed his helmet and walked up to the front door. Kronos would stay where he was and wait and see if the kid came up to Methos' apartment. If he did, well Kronos would cross the bridge when he got there of what to do with the boy.

A few minutes later, the quickening grew stronger and Kronos knew the kid was coming up to the door. He got up from where he sat by the window and crossed over to the front door. The kid outside knocked, but Kronos just waited to see what would happen.

"Adam?" the kid called before knocking again, "Adam?"

Kronos neither moved towards the door or away from it; he wanted to see just how far this went. Richie knocked a few more times and it roused Methos out of sleep long enough for him to say, without opening his eyes or getting up, "Richie, get out of here and don't come back until I say to."

"Adam, are you alright?" the kid asked.

"I'll be better once I get some peace and quiet around here, now get lost," Methos replied.

Kronos heard the retreating footsteps and he went over to the bed.

"Friend of yours?" he asked.

Methos grumbled a reply but it was too low for Kronos to hear. Kronos got up and headed back into the kitchen and returned to the journal. He had hoped to catch up on where he had left off four years ago. By this time he knew he could probably get what he wanted to know out of Methos directly, but still he felt there was something kept somewhere in these journals that Methos was trying to hide from him. He seemed to be in luck as this journal was dated near what the last one had been.

"_I have lost count now of how many times I have tried to pick up and leave from this dreaded place, yet I always find myself returning to my own room for the night, and staying again. What it is that keeps me here I can't say, though I assume part of it, while I would never admit it to another living soul, is guilt. For some reason, I feel guilty about what Byron's been through; I know that what's become of him wasn't my own doing but I still feel as though I've failed him. In the beginning he wanted answers from me more than anything, and now that I'd be willing to give them to him, instead, it seems he wants me._

"_That, I think, is the reason above all I wish to leave but find I can't. Ever since I first came out here, not more than a few days has ever gone by that he hasn't all but forced himself on me. Sometimes I wonder if maybe I owe it to him after all the pain he's been through. It's never been a good idea for teachers to become involved with their students in such a manner but I trust Byron has more interest in me than just my head, and I know I could never bring myself to take his, no matter what might become of him. To be honest, I'm starting to get tired of it all. So many times he's taken the opportunity to grab me and pin me down on the floor or to the bed, and every time I fight him off though I suspect that furthers his desire for it…for me._

"_There was one night a month ago when I was ready to just let him. I had returned from a fight, the winner of course, dealing with a 3,000 year old Quickening running around inside of me. It felt as if somebody had opened me up and turned me inside out, how I even got back to the mansion, I don't know. All I remember is falling on the floor and Byron knelt down beside me; he grabbed me and rolled me onto my back, on a pile of cushions and pillows he'd stacked on the floor, and he climbed on top of me. I was so exhausted I had no strength to fight him, and what strength I did have left all went to a vain attempt to breathe, but alas even that I lost when he started to kiss me again. _

_For a while I was too weak to even move and considered just letting him do what he would to satisfy him. He snaked his hands under my lower back and tried to hold me even tighter as he continued to suffocate me. For several months now I had managed to ward him off every time he tried to become intimate, but I wondered if it was all for nothing. Byron was persistent and anything he wanted he saw to that he got, he was very much like Kronos in that way. Still, I had known him since he first became Immortal, I taught him most of what he knew, and after all that time being with him, I felt oddly certain that if I just lay still and let him do what he wanted…well, I knew he wouldn't hurt me, not nearly like countless others had in the past. I must have still been trying to resist him because I just then realized that I couldn't breathe, so I opened my mouth to try and take in air, but Byron took it as an open invitation. _

_It was then that I found enough strength in my exhausted, half-dead body to ball my hands up into fists and started beating him. Then I shoved him off of me and onto the floor and started to get to my feet. He got up as well and tried to grab me again. Finally I just lost it with him and told him if he didn't leave me alone, I was going to leave him. Something changed in his eyes; he knew that I was serious about leaving him, with no intentions of returning. By that time I was so tired I about fell over again, only he caught me._

"_Come on, Doc," he said to me, "Let's get you to bed."_

_I was so tired I couldn't even see where we were going as we walked along the dark corridor to the bedroom. He pushed me on the bed with very little effort and started undressing me. For a moment I thought he was going to try again, but he didn't, instead he left me alone to sleep and recover._

_I really don't know what I'm going to do with him. I don't trust him to stay by himself and yet I know that I can't stay out here forever, however much I might want to. I love Byron, more so than I'll ever admit to him, but the part of my life being to please other people, ended a long time ago."_

That was it seemed, until Kronos came back into his life. Now as he looked to his brother who was still asleep in bed, and more so now resembling a young child than ever before, Kronos was starting to wonder if maybe he'd made a mistake coming back for Methos.

He hadn't come on a simple impulse, he had come with good news that he had yet to tell Methos; Silas and Caspian were alive. He'd met up with them a few months ago outside of Costa Rica, and he found out that neither had seen or heard from Methos for over a hundred years. Kronos had planned to get Methos and take him away from this so called life of his for a while to be reunited with his brothers, but so far he hadn't had a chance to bring it up. Kronos seemed to have what was called a sixth sense about these sorts of things; he had to wait until the moment was _just_ right to tell Methos about it all.

Now Kronos was starting to feel a bit run down himself; he got on the bed and lay next to his brother and watched Methos as he slept. It was said that a lot of people looked cute when they slept, Methos looked younger when he slept, cute however wasn't another word that came to mind…at peace was more like it. Kronos knew that Methos had spent most of his life running, from people of all sorts, for a variety of reasons, when he slept it seemed to be the only time that he wasn't troubled by the fact that he may have to run away again.

Kronos had lived a similar life for quite some time himself, but he got away from it. How he wished he could simply snatch Methos up and take him off into the same life he now had. And yet his brother seemed grounded to this God forsaken town for some reason, but what was it?

* * *

Kronos woke up and it was then that he'd realized he'd fallen asleep earlier. He saw that the sky was already started to change colors and the sun was starting to set. How long had he been asleep? He looked at the clock and saw it was 6 o' clock. Methos' sleeping problem seemed to be rubbing off on him. Kronos turned over and saw Methos was still asleep as well, in the exact same position he'd been in when Kronos last saw him. Kronos grabbed Methos and shook him to wake him up, Methos slowly responded.

"Come on, wake up," Kronos said as he jerked Methos up by his collar, "What's the matter with you?"

He lightly slapped Methos' cheek and that seemed to help bring him around, but if the movements he made were any indicator, his head was still swimming.

"I don't know, I don't know," Methos groaned, "My head's killing me, my whole body feels numb. I…" Methos rolled onto his side and glared at Kronos, "Did you slip me something?"

"I should say not," Kronos replied in an offended tone, "Did you slip _me_ something?"

"No!"

"Well at least we have that cleared up," Kronos said.

Methos saw no humor in it, his body felt like he'd been tied down with hundreds of pounds of lead weights.

"I feel like I've been drugged," he said as he rubbed his forehead, "Are you _sure_ you didn't give me anything?"

"Why would I?" Kronos asked.

"Well after what I did 2,000 years ago, I couldn't blame you if you did."

"Oh don't be ridiculous," Kronos replied, "You said you hadn't been sleeping well lately, it probably finally caught up with you."

"Maybe," Methos started to consider the thought, "Kronos…did Richie come by here this afternoon?"

"Who?"

"He's like us, young kid, red hair, drives a motorcycle, was he here, or was that a dream?"

"He was here."

Methos' eyes started to shift, "I wonder what he wanted."

"He wanted to know if you were alright."

"But why? He is one person who has never been concerned about my wellbeing," Methos said.

"And you're complaining?" Kronos asked.

Methos didn't answer and it looked like he was going to sleep again. Kronos got up and headed into the kitchen to start on dinner. Every day he was out here with Methos he was getting a stronger impression that he had come out to see his brother at just the right time. Something weird was going on and he didn't know what, but he was going to get to the bottom of it.


	7. Chapter 7

Kronos awoke in the night when he heard Methos screaming. Methos shot up in bed and in the process knocked over the lamp by the bed. Kronos turned on the other light and turned over to see what was the matter with him now.

Methos, still caught up in the nightmare it seemed, looked around the room though his eyes focused on nothing in particular.

"Somebody's in here," he said as he turned to Kronos, "Somebody's in this room."

Kronos was certain Methos wasn't quite awake yet and hadn't separated his dream from reality, still Kronos could go along with it and humor his brother. He reached into his suitcase and pulled out a Luger he'd collected off some skinhead in the war, and he made a very thorough show of checking the entire bedroom wherever possible for a person to hide. About half an hour later, reality had set in for Methos, even though he was still broken out in a cold sweat.

"Are you alright now?" Kronos asked.

Methos nodded, "I'm sorry, it's just…I _did_ think somebody was in here, I thought for certain that somebody was…"

Kronos put his gun on the nightstand and got back into bed, "It's alright…think you can go back to sleep now?"

Methos tiredly nodded and replied, "I think so…but I still feel like an idiot for what happened."

"Given the lives we lead, I think it's to be expected," Kronos replied, "Although, maybe it would do you some good to get out of here for a while."

"I've thought about it, Bora Bora isn't that pleasant this time of the year," Methos said as he closed his eyes.

"No, I mean that you…oh never mind, I'll tell you tomorrow," Kronos said.

A tired smile formed on Methos' face as he hugged his pillow and started drifting off to sleep.

Damn but Kronos could never stay mad at him, no matter how hard he tried, and after Methos left the Horsemen, he did try for almost a thousand years, only to fail.

He almost had to laugh, this brought him back to a night in…1920 as he recalled. He stumbled upon a woman who would later become his wife, she was a fortune teller at a passing carnival, and without so much as an admission fee she grabbed him by the wrist and started reading his palm.

"Hmmm, strange lifeline," had been the first thing she said to him, "I see you have estranged family."

"A brother," Kronos admitted.

"Younger one," she said.

Kronos tilted his head at an angle that suggested he would neither confirm nor deny it, "You could say that."

He reached behind to scratch the back of his head but the woman beat him to it. Now she was starting to give him the creeps.

"I see also you two had a falling out," the lady said.

Kronos hawed at that, "There's an understatement."

"And I see you coming in contact with him again soon."

Soon, but what was soon to an Immortal?

"For his sake, he better hope we don't," Kronos said.

"A long time has passed and you still don't forgive him," the woman told him.

"I try."

"Try what?" she asked, "_To_ forgive him, or try _not_ to?"

"I haven't decided yet."

Kronos was in a particularly coy mood and he smiled at the woman, she smiled in return before bashing him over the head with a small clock that rested on her table.

"What the hell was that for?" Kronos asked.

She smiled knowingly and responded, "Such a shame to live so long and still be so stupid. You can't be mad at your brother for the rest of your life, no matter how much he may have screwed it up."

"If you knew what he did to me."

"Don't I?" she replied.

He stopped and realized that maybe she did. She was certainly an odd enough one that he wouldn't put it past her.

They married not too long after that, and many a nights she beat him over the head with something again and reminded him that try as he might he wouldn't be able to stay mad at his brother. If she could see him now, he realized.

Kronos looked over at the other side of the bed and the big lump on it that was his brother, and he saw how peaceful Methos seemed now that he was asleep, and Kronos could feel himself slipping back into his role as the protective big brother. Kronos was well aware of Methos' identity as the world's oldest man, but that was only because word about himself had never gotten out to anybody. Anymore, Kronos didn't know which of them was truly the older one and he decided it didn't matter, from the day they met he had basically been the big brother, and that's how things were going to stay. For a while now things had seemed to be going alright but if anybody tried to mess with Methos now, Kronos would see to it personally that there was hell to pay.

* * *

The next day when Methos was awake, Kronos tried to explain the idea of him packing his things and disappearing for a while with him.

"And go where exactly?" Methos asked.

"It doesn't matter where," Kronos said, "Given the technology of today we can go anywhere in the whole bloody world that we please, and be there in no more than a few hours."

"And yet," Methos said, "I have an idea that you already have a certain location in mind."

Kronos smiled knowingly and commented, "Maybe I do, so what?"

Methos smiled at the idea of going off with his brother, but he turned away.

"Come on, Methos, what's keeping you here?" Kronos asked, "What's so important about this wretched place that you couldn't sneak off for a few weeks?"

"I have my reasons."

"Yes but you've still _yet_ to explain them to me," Kronos said.

"Don't start again, Kronos," Methos told him.

"Well if it _is_ nothing like you say it is, then why haven't you told me?" Kronos asked, "If I didn't know any better, I'd swear you have something to hide."

Methos tried to brush the idea off as if it were a joke, but Kronos knew he'd hit a nerve.

"Come on Methos," Kronos insisted, "Let's get out of this hellhole before we start to blend in with the others."

Kronos grabbed at Methos' arm but Methos pushed him away and started laughing, only it wasn't in humor but rather seemed to be from exhaustion, like a man who hadn't slept for days and finally cracked.

"This is too much," Methos said amusedly, "You're starting to act like me. Usually I'm the first one to pack my bag and get the hell out of town if anything starts to seem off."

"So _now_ who are you being like?" Kronos asked, "Your friend, MacLeod?"

Methos' eyes shifted, barely, but anyone paying attention would notice, and it was then that Methos realized a nerve had been struck, only he didn't know if it was his own, or Kronos'.

"I finally figured out where I've seen that bastard before," Kronos said, "In Agua Dulce, in 1867."

"I didn't know," was all that Methos had to say.

"Of _course_ you didn't," Kronos replied in an unbelieving tone, "Now tell me, _how_ long have you known him?"

"Not long, not long at all," Methos answered, "A couple of years."

And just why in hell he was suddenly feeling so defensive about it all, Methos couldn't figure out, and a thought came to his mind.

"Well it's beside the point now," Kronos said, "Is _that_ why you stay?"

Methos' gaze shifted to the floor.

"It is, isn't it?"

Methos started to shake, slightly but quite visibly, as he replied, "I don't know, Kronos…I just can't say why I stay."

Kronos walked over to Methos and put his arms around him.

"Okay, okay, just calm down, I just wanted to know…you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Kronos said.

Methos put one arm around Kronos' back and kissed him, as if he needed reassurance of his brother really being there.

"Kronos, there's something I have to tell you," Methos said.

"What's that?"

Kronos was expecting for the bombshell to drop now, for some big revelation to come out into the open, but what Methos said was beyond anything Kronos couldn't anticipated hearing.

"Silas and Caspian are alive."

Kronos' face was a mask of shock, and it was genuine, just not for the reason Methos thought it was.

"I've known for a long time," Methos said, "I just never told you about it. I…I haven't been to see them for the longest time, but I know where they are. So many times I've considered just taking off and going back to them but I couldn't…I don't know why, I'm sure they must resent me for it by now."

"Oh you know them better than that, Silas especially, he couldn't be mad at you if his life depended on it," Kronos replied.

"I know I _should_ get out of here and see them but…"

"We'll go out to Costa Rica and visit with them when you're up to it," Kronos told him, "What do you want to do in the meantime?"

Methos grumbled and replied that he didn't know.

"Want to go down to the docks and frighten the locals?"

Methos laughed but shook his head.

"Alright…you want to go down to the church and scare the hell out of the nuns?"

Methos laughed again but still shook his head.

"Alright…" Kronos thought again, "Do you want to stay here and get drunk?"

Methos' gaze lowered to the floor again as a sheepish grin formed on his face and he nodded his head. Kronos let go of his brother and went to put a couple of bottles on ice; he had a feeling this could take a while.

* * *

A couple hours later, Methos was out cold again, this time with the assistance of two crushed sleeping capsules Kronos had put in his drink. Odd as it seemed now, Kronos didn't like keeping secrets from his brother, but he wanted to know what the hell was going on, and if Methos wasn't going to tell him, Kronos would just have to find it himself. He started digging through Methos' journals and found one that looked to be the most recent, and he cracked it open to the middle to see what was in it. It was dated March 8th, 1995.

"_Even though I've been saying it for two hundred years, I think I've finally lost my mind. Two days ago of all the people in the world to come into my life, Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod decided to pay 'Adam Pierson' a little visit regarding 'Methos', after finding Don dead with half my name scrawled out in his blood, no thanks to Kalas. I can't say however that it isn't a relief having somebody I can admit to being 5,000 years old about, but I know MacLeod would never be able to understand certain parts about my life, about what I've been, so in all reality his friendship is a two edged sword just waiting to cut me._

"_When I returned home I found Kalas waiting for me. Not having fought with another Immortal for 200 years, I got one hell of a refresher course as he tried for my head. I ended the fight prematurely and we both fell into the seine which bought me some time to figure out what I was going to do. And what did I do? I offered my head to MacLeod, I knew either he or Kalas would get to it and MacLeod might as well be the first one with a chance at it. Really, I feel like nothing more than a go-between for these two, both need my head in order to defeat the other. It's nice to be wanted but not when the attention's for something like this!  
_

_How grateful I am that my brothers can't see me now, Kronos especially. All the things I've done in my life that I'm not proud of, this I think takes them all. Offering my head to a damn infant of all things, and yet, he'd probably know more what to do with my Quickening than any other Immortal would. But still I wonder…"_

The writing started becoming harder to read and if Kronos had to guess, it would seem Methos was shaking like an old man with the DTs when he wrote it.

"_It's because of things like this that I regret living as long as I have. Sometimes I wish I could write up a report that 'Methos the world's oldest man' finally met his end and it would close the Watchers' case on me. Unfortunately I know it's not a possibility so until something of that opportunity does come along, I'm going to have to keep myself even more so out of the public eye. At least for the time being, Kalas is in jail, MacLeod is safe, and I am left alone…oh I do a nice job of seeming as if I want nothing more than to be left alone, in reality I hate it with a passion. Man was not meant to be alone as the origin of mankind has proven, and neither am I…and yet it seems my destiny since I left my brothers._

"_I remember the last time I visited with Silas and Caspian it was 1889 and a terrible snowstorm hit. A fine night that was trying to get to sleep with three of us in a bed meant for two people. Even with all of us practically on top of each other we still nearly froze to death and Caspian had to boil enough water on the fire to fill near a dozen hot water bottles, which I was grateful we had but I could have done without the one he slipped under my shirt. The next time I see him, I'm going to set him on fire in his sleep for that. Damn but I miss them though, they're about the only people who ever lived who could understand what I've been through."_

* * *

Methos slept through most of the afternoon until the sun was starting to go down. He didn't eat much at dinner and afterwards made a beeline to the bathroom to be by himself as he bathed. However, Kronos didn't leave him alone for very long; and once Methos finished bathing, Kronos picked up a metal comb off the sink's counter and ran it through Methos' hair, he was still trying to get used to how short it was now.

"You were out of it for quite a while," Kronos innocently commented, "How're you feeling?"

"I still feel tired," Methos replied, "I can't figure it out. It's like I'm finally starting to feel my age."

"Maybe having me around is just more boring than you thought it'd be," Kronos said.

Methos turned his head around to look up at his brother.

"You?" he replied innocently, "Never."

Kronos put the comb down and picked Methos up out of the tub and carried him into the bedroom with Methos laughing and screaming and pounding him with his fists all the way. Kronos dumped him on the bed but Methos scrambled off of it and over to the closet before Kronos could grab him again.

"You certainly seem to be in a mood tonight," Methos commented as he got dressed.

Kronos fell on the bed and watched his brother with much delight, only to say a moment later, "Get into bed."

"Yes dear," Methos replied cynically as he came back to the bed and slipped in on his own side.

Methos moved onto his side to try and get comfortable and no sooner had he, Kronos grabbed him by the arm and jerked him into the middle of the bed and pinned him. Kronos kept Methos' arm locked behind his back at an angle at which the pain was borderline to the bone snapping. Methos screamed in agony and tried to get away but Kronos had him pinned to the mattress with his own bodyweight on top of his brother.

Methos struggled in vain to get out from underneath Kronos but it was impossible with his brother's full weight on him, and his knees buried in Methos' back. In almost a reflexive response to the pain being inflicted on him, Methos started kicking Kronos but it was to no avail; he showed no signs of letting up until Methos was screaming like a wounded dog. Only then did he get off of Methos and release his grip; the moment when the pain ceased was when Methos seemed to scream the loudest.

"You son of a bitch!" he said as he moved back over to his side of the bed.

Kronos just smirked and commented, "I seem to recall doing far worse to you a long time ago, it seems to me you just got soft."

Methos groaned and buried his face in the pillow. He was too old and too tired to be having this conversation.

Kronos rolled up beside Methos and started poking him in the back all up and down Methos' spine as if to prove his point.

"You do that one more time," Methos warned him as he pulled his face out of the pillow, "You're going to lose that finger."

Kronos might have been stupid enough to play with fire, but not his brother when he had a bad temper.

"Goodnight, Methos."

"Goodnight, now go to sleep and shut up," Methos said, "Don't wake me up."

"At all?" Kronos asked.

"At all."

Oh there was a joke in there somewhere but Kronos decided not to bother with it tonight; he pulled the covers up and turned off the light, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Methos replied as he hit his head against the pillows and closed his eyes.

A few seconds later, Methos heard a loud WHOP! and shot up in bed to see what had happened. He turned around and saw Kronos beating his pillows to reposition their shape. Methos turned back on his side and buried his head under the pillows and tried to go to sleep.

However that plan quickly became a pipe dream when he felt something pressing into him.

"What in the hell is that?" he asked Kronos.

"My feet."

"Get them off my ass," Methos warned him.

"Suit yourself," Kronos replied.

He removed his feet and stuck them under Methos' stomach. Methos reached over to the nightstand and Kronos couldn't tell what he was looking for, until Methos moved back and started pounding on Kronos' feet with a brass candlestick. Kronos screamed and pulled his feet back to his own side of the bed. Methos tossed the brass holder across the room and said with a sinister half smile on his face and a glare in his eyes, "Goodnight."

"Spoil sport," Kronos commented to himself.

When Methos heard that, he reached over to the nightstand again. Kronos didn't know what he was reaching for this time and he didn't care, or rather he didn't until Methos hit him on the head with a rolled up magazine like he was a dog or something. He tossed the magazine on the floor and returned to his side, laughing to himself. Kronos wasn't going to take it though, he reached over to a chair by the bed and picked up his jacket, on the interior was a small pin that a woman had given him some years ago. He pulled the pin into two pieces so the pin's point was exposed and he stuck it where Methos appreciated it the least. Methos screamed in pain and fell on the floor beside the bed. Kronos just lay back down against the pillows and closed his eyes, ignoring the noises his brother made.

It took a few minutes but Methos finally stopped wanting to rip Kronos' head off and spit down his neck. It were almost as if something inside of Methos had snapped, instead of being furious with his brother, he started to laugh about it all. He didn't normally laugh at much of anything but this was not a normal laugh even by his standards; it came a little too easily, it sounded a little too cocky, it was as if a second person were inside of him having a good time. Methos got up and walked out the door and he stayed gone for a while; doing what, Kronos didn't know and he didn't pay any attention to because he figured Methos had just left to blow off some steam. However Kronos found that wasn't the case when half an hour later, he was awoken by something being smashed over his head.

Kronos sat up in bed and looked over to the other side and saw Methos who seemed to be peacefully asleep. He then turned his attention to what was on his head as a remainder of what Methos had hit him with. He felt something cold and wet and on top of it all there was…he pulled it out and saw a flower. His brother had brained him with a potted plant. Kronos looked over to Methos again and saw him asleep, and he started to think his brother was starting to lose it.

* * *

Methos woke up early the next morning and turned over to find Kronos still asleep. It was funny how Kronos, who was so old and never really looked as young as he was when he died, could look so much like a child when he was asleep. It was funny but Methos was able to gather from the sight before him, an idea of what Kronos must have looked like when he was a kid.

Kronos it seemed wasn't going to be waking up anytime soon, so Methos got out of bed and got dressed. He figured he himself must have slept pretty hard because he didn't have any recollection about last night past the point where they stopped trying to kill each other in their sleep. He had to admit it was nice being home with family again, even if they didn't always get along. If the Italians could do it, and they had been together much longer than the Italians…of course that was a story for another time.

Methos headed into the kitchen to get started on breakfast. He turned on the burner and poured two eggs into the frying pan and while they got white and puffy and popped, all Methos could think about was what Kronos had said to him yesterday; that soon they would go and see their brothers. That had been the bombshell that he had been dying to drop on Kronos, that they were still alive, and Kronos had been surprised, but still, something about yesterday had seemed a little off. Methos returned to the here and now and poured water into the frying pan and covered it with a lid and waited.

Five minutes later, Methos returned to the bedroom with a plate on a metal tray. He went over to the bed and kissed Kronos above one eye and it woke him up.

"Hmmm," he groaned as he looked at the clock, "Morning already."

Methos set the tray down on Kronos' lap, but it got a different response from Kronos than the one Methos had expected.

"Something's wrong here, if you're being nice to me, something's wrong," Kronos said, "What happened, did somebody die?"

"Shut up and eat before it gets cold," Methos replied, "Did you sleep well?"

Kronos was very tempted at that to remind Methos about the flowerpot incident last night but decided against it, "Fine, and you?"

"Like the dead."

Methos went over to the window and looked down to the streets. For the time of day it was, the streets were pretty empty except for one or two people slowly moving along.

"So what're we going to do today?" Kronos asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm getting a little tired of staying in this apartment all day, aren't you?"

Methos nodded, he was getting very tired of it. He was starting to feel that if he didn't get out and do something soon, he'd go crazy.

"Well," Kronos said, "There's got to be something to do in this God forsaken hellhole you call home…don't you do anything besides get drunk around here?"

"Very little," Methos replied.

"Well we're going to have to do something about that," Kronos said, "You know they say that you can move too far away by standing still for too long…what do you suppose the consequence for that is?"

"I'm too old to worry about consequences," Methos said.

Methos looked back at Kronos and the look on his face told Methos that Kronos was practically sitting on his hands to say something.

"What is it?" he asked.

"You're only too old to worry about consequences when you actually do something, why would anybody want to face a consequence for not doing anything?" Kronos asked.

Methos started to laugh when he saw the futility in arguing with his brother. "Did you ever consider being a philosopher?"

* * *

"Are you sure?" Richie asked Joe again.

"I already told you both before, I can't find anything on this guy, Kronos, why, what's he done now?" Joe asked.

"Nothing that I know of it's just…"

"Just what?" Joe asked.

"He and Methos were here a few days ago?"

"When?"

"The day Methos came in and told us what was going on, Kronos came in after he did, right?" Richie asked.

Joe shook his head, "I didn't see him, why?"

"After I left the bar that day I was trying to get out of here and I ran into him, he didn't say anything but there's something about that guy that just scares the hell out of me," Richie said, "I don't like it."

"I've still yet to even see this guy, what's he look like?" Joe asked.

"Well he's ugly, that's for sure…he's about as tall as Methos, a little heavier, he's got this long scar going down his right eye, and…in my opinion he's got a haircut that looks like he got hit by a lawnmower."

Joe shook his head, "I ain't seen him…somehow every time he comes in here, I'm off somewhere else. But you hadn't seen him either at the time, had you?"

Richie shook his head, "I don't know how, but I knew it was him…it was just too freaky."

"And he didn't say anything to you?" Joe asked.

"Nope, he just looked at me and he had this weird look on his face, I can't even describe it. I decided to get the hell out while the getting was good, after that I guess he left, but I can't figure why he came in the first place if he didn't come in," Richie said.

"It _does_ sound pretty weird, I agree," Joe said.

"The other day I went to see if Methos was alright because I hadn't seen him around, but he just screamed at me to go away…usually though if he doesn't want company he at least opens the door to tell me. I wonder if something _is_ wrong," Richie said.

"Who knows? Of course I wonder what I'd think of this new guy if I ever met him."

Richie felt the quickening of another Immortal nearby and he turned to the door, "Maybe we'll find out."

However they were both disappointed to see it was only MacLeod. Before he could come up to the bar, Joe tapped Richie on the shoulder and said in his ear, "Mac sure doesn't like him though, he says he's worried about Methos but I say he's jealous that now that Kronos is here, Methos is ignoring Mac just about completely."

"MacLeod jealous, well it had to happen sooner or later," Richie said.

"Hello Richie, how's it going?" Duncan asked as he came up to them.

"Oh fine, have you seen Methos lately?"

That comment, though it wasn't too obvious, seemed to strike a nerve in Duncan as at that moment, a slight twitch started in one of his eyes. Richie was starting to see what Joe was saying about him being jealous.

"No, I haven't," Duncan answered.

"Oh, that's too bad," Richie said with a hint of cynicism in his voice, "I guess…I guess this friend of his in town is keeping him pretty busy."

Richie saw that twitch again, this was getting to be fun.

"What about you, Joe?" Duncan asked, "Have you seen him?"

Joe shook his head, "He didn't come in yesterday, that's all I know."

Both Richie and Duncan felt another Immortal nearby.

"Maybe it's him now," Richie said.

They saw both Methos and Kronos come in, apparently it hadn't been a planned stop however because the first thing Kronos did was look around and ask Methos, "Why did we come back here?"

"Quiet," Methos told him.

"If you wanted to get drunk we could have stayed at home for that, why'd we have to come back and be in the company of _these_ Bohemians?"

"Are you going to behave yourself?" Methos asked.

"That depends on which will get us out of here the quickest," Kronos replied.

Methos looked around and he saw something that while he didn't sense a threat, he jerked on Kronos' jacket to get his attention.

"What's the matter?"

"That man that just walked in, have we seen him somewhere before?"

Kronos looked to see the person his brother was looking at. A young man somewhere between his 20s and 30s, tall and skinny, dressed completely in black, had walked in. While Kronos couldn't recall seeing him anywhere before, he too had a strange sensation come over him that he _should_ recognize the man somehow.

"I don't think so," Kronos said.

"All the same," Methos replied, "I think we'll forgo the drink this time."

"Fine with me," Kronos said as they got up to leave.

Duncan, Richie and Joe watched as in less than two minutes, the two other Immortals had come in, gotten seated, then got up and left with no explanation, as if it were all normal.

"What do you think that was all about?" Richie asked.


	8. Chapter 8

Kronos looked over at his brother who while all his life had been unbelievably pale, seemed to be turning a shade even whiter.

"Are you okay?" Kronos asked.

Methos didn't immediately answer, which told Kronos everything he needed to know.

"Move over," Kronos told him, "I don't think you're in any position to drive."

Methos moved over to the passenger side and Kronos got behind the wheel, all the while something still didn't make sense to him.

"You've never seen that man before?" Kronos asked.

"I don't think so," Methos said, "But I don't know…I would think I'd remember but…"

No further words were needed; Methos' attempt at an explanation was good enough for Kronos. He started the engine and got them out of there before either had a chance to get another word in.

"Probably just best if we get the hell out of here while the getting's good," he said.

Methos nodded as he seemed to turn impossibly paler than he already was. Kronos had seen Methos through a lot of different stages in his life; and one of them was when Methos was afraid, but even so Kronos could never recall seeing Methos like this. He reached over with one hand to feel the flesh that he already knew to be covered in a cold sweat.

While Kronos kept his eyes on the road, Methos looked behind them and he noticed something. He turned back to Kronos and said, "Is that black car following us?"

Kronos looked up into the rearview mirror and saw it, but he shook his head, "I don't think so."

"Maybe we better make sure," Methos suggested.

Kronos thought Methos was being paranoid again but he was willing to go along with it. He gripped the steering wheel and pulled it all the way to the left that he could and the car made a sharp U-turn and went back the way it had come and the black car behind them did the same. So it wasn't all his brother's imagination after all. He looked over at Methos and saw that his brother had gone from being as pale as a sheet, to red with fury.

"Hold on," Kronos said to him as he stepped on the accelerator.

Methos saw the needle on the speedometer read 70 mph, and he noticed that the car behind them had also picked up speed. He looked around and was thankful that at this time the streets were mostly empty but if Kronos didn't watch it, they could very soon find themselves in the middle of one _very_ interesting car wreck.

The black car caught up with them and the driver rammed it against them. Kronos jerked the steering wheel to the left and bashed against it in return. The two cars pulled away from each other for a few seconds before both drivers pushed them against each other, and the noise made from the scraping of metal on metal was one of the most unnerving things Methos had heard in a long time. Kronos sped up again and got away from the other car, but he also moved them over to the left side of the road so the other driver would have to think of something new.

Methos looked out the window on his side and saw the black car come up against them again, this time he could see the driver's window down and a gun pointed at them. Before he had time to react, Kronos saw it as well and grabbed Methos by the shoulder and pulled him down across the front seat so the driver couldn't hit him; while simultaneously he stomped on the accelerator again and they just missed being shot at.

"What the hell is going on?" Methos asked as he looked behind them, "Why're they shooting at us?"

"I don't know," Kronos replied, "But we're either going to kill them, or lose them trying."

Methos looked ahead of them and saw they were coming to the end of an uncompleted street.

"Look out!"

Kronos turned back to the road and saw it as well, but it was too late, they swerved off the side and went over the edge and went flying through the air before descending to the rocky ground 30 feet below. They crashed and the car went rolling on its side before coming to a complete stop, at which point the windshield was smashed as the front of the car knocked into a large tree. Kronos pulled his head out of the steering wheel and tried to straighten himself out.

"Well," he said, "That was one hell of a ride."

He turned to Methos, who had smashed against the dashboard and hadn't picked his face up from it yet. Kronos pushed him back against the seat and saw the bang-up job his brother had endured on the way down. Blood was gushing out of his nose and to say he wasn't amused at the trip down would be the understatement of the year, but he was relieved that now they seemed to be out of danger.

Kronos knew it was a serious matter but the glaring look on Methos' face was just too damn funny that he couldn't help laughing.

"Well I'm _glad_ you're enjoying this," Methos said with heavy sarcasm in his outraged tone.

Kronos reached into his jacket and took out a handkerchief and tried to wipe off the blood but Methos took it and did it himself.

"Well," Kronos started to say but started laughing again.

"Well what?"

"It would seem that for the time being, going back to your apartment is out of the question," Kronos said, "Whoever that was…"

"Whoever it was," Methos said, "They had to know who we are, or have some idea anyway…you don't just do what they did for no reason."

"I know."

Methos didn't want to ask if Kronos thought it was the same man from the bar, but apparently he didn't need to ask, Kronos seemed to know that's what was going through his mind.

"Come on," Kronos told him, "Let's get out of this sardine can before it explodes."

"Then what'll we do?" Methos asked.

Kronos pushed the door open and got himself out and pulled Methos out beside him, "First we're going to get the hell out of this ditch. Then…" he looked at his brother's blood-smeared face and started to laugh again, "Next thing we're going to do is go somewhere we can get you cleaned up. And it probably wouldn't be a bad idea if we didn't go back to your apartment anytime soon."

For a second, Kronos saw fear in Methos' eyes as he realized something.

"If they find my journals…"

Kronos nodded, "I know…come on."

They slowly made their way back up the hill they had fallen off of and saw that nobody was around.

"I don't understand it," Methos said.

"Neither do I," Kronos said, "All the same, I'm going to get us out of here, and to a hotel where we can spend the next few days where nobody knows we are."

Methos nodded and followed his brother; almost immediately after they left the crash sight, he started moaning and holding his stomach.

"What's the matter with you?" Kronos asked.

"I don't know," Methos replied, "I've got a horrible pain."

"Maybe when we went spinning you swallowed the cigarette lighter," Kronos said.

"Shut up," Methos groaned.

Kronos stopped and Methos walked into him and asked what was the matter. Methos had done an okay job of wiping the blood off his face but a good part of it still remained on his shirt, so Kronos told him to close his coat so nobody would notice. With that, they continued on until they came to the nearest hotel, Kronos got them checked in and he gave the room key to Methos.

"You go on ahead," he told his brother, "I'm going to stop at your apartment and get a few things, and see if I notice anybody around who's not supposed to be there."

Methos didn't think it was a good idea but he knew arguing with his brother was futile, so he went on ahead, and Kronos turned and left.

* * *

Near an hour later, Kronos returned to the hotel with a large box full of Methos' journals and a few other things. He went up to the third floor where their room was and opened the door and for a moment he thought he'd gone into the wrong room. The room was exceptionally large with the walls painted a hideous wine color and there was a king sized bed in the middle of the room. This hardly looked like the week leased room for two traveling brothers.

The bathroom door opened and Methos poked his head out, "How did it go?"

"Alright I think," Kronos answered as he set the box down on the bed, "I got your journals and a change of clothes."

"Good because these," Methos held out his clothes that had been covered with blood and were now wringing wet, "Aren't going to be ready for a while."

Kronos took the clothes and sent them down the laundry chute and turned back to his brother, "I looked but I didn't see that man from the bar, I didn't see anybody who even resembled him in all the time it took me to get there and back."

"Well, I called Joe and told him what happened…he said that he hadn't paid much attention to it at the time, but that guy that came in, he _did_ leave not too long after we did. Couldn't say who it was though, he wasn't a regular and he's not a Watcher, least not as much as Joe's aware of…but he says that the guy _has_ been coming around quite a few times the last few days."

"Hmmm…" the gears seemed to be turning in Kronos' brain as an idea came to his mind, "I wonder."

"What?"

"Oh it can wait," Kronos noticed that Methos still looked rather pale, even for him, "Are you feeling alright?"

"I guess so…I'm going to get a shower, I'll be out in a few minutes."

"Take your time," Kronos replied.

Once the water was running, Kronos went to the phone and placed a long distance phone call to Costa Rica. Caspian answered and Kronos spent the next half hour telling him what happened; to which Caspian asked if Kronos had any idea who might be responsible for it all.

"No I don't know," Kronos told him, "But I'll tell you this, when I get my hands on whoever _is_ responsible, they're going to wish I killed them a long time ago."

"Meanwhile," Caspian replied, "How's Methos taking it all?"

"Methos? He's…"

At that time Kronos heard what had to be Methos' stomachache working itself out of his system. Kronos tried not to laugh as he answered over the retching, "It sounds like our trip downhill finally caught up with him."

"What?"

"Never mind, I'll call you back if I find anything else out," Kronos said before he hung up.

As Kronos went over to the bathroom door and knocked a couple times, he couldn't help but think how nauseating that roll downhill had been. He himself hadn't felt so sick since well over 70 years ago when his then wife bet that he couldn't survive the wall of death. He had proven her wrong but in doing so he'd spent the rest of the night puking like a sick dog. His mind returning to the here and now, when he didn't hear anything from the other side of the door, he walked in. Methos stood over the sink trying to catch his breath, one of the hotel's white towels wrapped around his waist, severely contrasting to his reddened skin that made him resemble a lobster.

"Are you alright?" Kronos asked.

"The water got too hot is all."

Kronos felt Methos' skin which practically burnt him from the touch alone.

"Were you trying to disintegrate yourself?" he asked.

Methos started breathing heavily again so Kronos moved him out of the bathroom which had practically become a steam bath and into the bedroom where it was a noticeable 20 degrees cooler. Kronos grabbed a cold bottle out of the mini bar and gave it to Methos who was hesitant to take it at first but after the first couple of drinks seemed to be calming down

"Now," Methos said as he sat on the bed, "What was that idea you had earlier?"

"It's not much of an idea and it probably means nothing," Kronos told him, "But I was just thinking, the last few days when you've complained so much about being so tired and sleeping as late as you have…"

"What about it?"

"Have you noticed," Kronos said, "The days it _really_ seemed to hit you was after we came back from the bar?"

It took Methos a minute to realize what Kronos was saying, and when it hit him, he seemed to be in a state of disbelief.

"You don't mean to suggest that…"

"I don't think your friend had anything to do with it, no…all I'm saying is put it together, this man who nobody knows about has been coming into the bar almost regularly the last few days, we also have been frequenting the place the last few days, every time we came back from the bar you would fall asleep in the middle of the day and stay asleep like the dead. Somebody has to have been getting to our drinks before they were brought to us."

The whole idea wasn't settling with Methos too well and he started looking sick again. He got to his feet and headed back into the bathroom and leaned over the sink for another minute or so. Kronos followed behind him and put his hand on Methos' now cold back and told him to take it easy. The sudden change in Methos' body temperature bothered Kronos; he snatched another towel off the rack and put it over Methos' shoulders. When it seemed to pass, he asked Methos, "Are you feeling better now?"

Methos didn't answer except for a quick nod.

"Alright then, back into the bedroom."

Kronos took him by the arm and led him out of the bathroom once again and they both settled down on the bed.

"You know," Kronos said, "You've become a very excitable person recently. What happened?"

Methos laughed with his face buried in his hands like a man who was embarrassed, or one who had snapped, and he responded, "I don't know."

"Now let's think about this for a minute," Kronos told him, "Most of the time I've been here I've been with you, so I know they don't have anything against me. What about you, have you been successful in pissing anybody off lately?"

"Nobody that's still alive, at least I don't think," Methos said, "Except for MacLeod but he'd never do anything like this."

That answer was good enough for Kronos for the time being.

"Alright, so they're coming after us but we don't know why," he said, "But we'll figure it out. In the meantime…" he took into account how heavy Methos' eyelids seemed to be growing, this had been one very tiring afternoon for both of them, "Why don't you lay down for a while and rest, and I'll figure out what to do."

Methos tiredly nodded and turned on his side to go to sleep.

"Methos."

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

"I love you too," Methos tiredly responded.

Kronos stroked through Methos' hair and laid down beside him. He closed his eyes and saw the gun that was aimed at his brother. Many times before when the four Horsemen were together was Methos' life threatened in front of Kronos' very own eyes, but somehow this time it was different. Somebody was going to die for what happened today, and when Kronos found out who was responsible, he was going to make sure that they didn't die quickly or painlessly.

* * *

For the fourth time, Methos grabbed the phone on the nightstand and considered calling MacLeod and telling him what happened. And yet at the same time there was an overwhelming feeling in him that seemed to ask, 'Why even bother?'

He had told Joe what had happened, Joe would obviously tell MacLeod and there wouldn't be any point in Methos telling the Highlander about it.

"Come on, get up," Kronos told him, "Get dressed, we're going out to dinner."

"I don't feel like it," Methos replied as he turned onto his side.

"Fine, we'll eat up here, all the same I suggest you get your clothes on, wouldn't want to scare the hell out of whoever brings up the food," Kronos said as he grabbed the phone and dialed a number for room service.

Methos groaned and turned over on his other side and ignored his brother. Kronos held the receiver to his ear and the phone under his arm and tapped Methos' backside to get his attention. Methos scooted over to the other side of the bed where Kronos couldn't reach him. Kronos picked up a fountain pen off the nightstand and considered tossing it like a dart to see where it would land but at that time the person on the other end of the line came on and he was distracted. Methos looked over and saw that as a cue to get up and get dressed before he wound up getting punctured. Kronos finished the call and hung up and saw Methos had gotten dressed.

"Well?" Methos asked.

"Dinner will be up soon."

He walked over to the window and opened the curtains and looked down.

"What is it?" Methos asked.

"Nothing."

"You think he followed us."

"It's a definite possibility, Methos."

"And if he has…"

"I'll kill him," Kronos answered, "Don't worry about it."

Kronos moved away from the window but morbid curiosity drove Methos to it to glance down towards the streets.

"There's nobody out there," Kronos told him, "My guess is if he were going to spy on us here, it wouldn't be from down there, probably in a room nearby."

"Oh that makes me feel a _lot_ better," Methos sarcastically replied as he went back over to the bed.

Kronos sat down beside him and told him, "They're _not_ going to get to you, I'll make sure of that."

However he could see that his brother wasn't convinced. Methos hung his head low like he was ashamed of something and Kronos had seen this too many times in the past from thousands of years ago to mistake what it was. Kronos wrapped his arms around Methos and pulled him close as Methos' composure ruptured and cried while his never-ending streak of anger and frustration broke through in a long throaty howl.

"Quiet, quiet, it's alright, just calm down."

It took Methos a few minutes to find his voice again, he pulled away from Kronos and wiped at one eye and told his brother, "I haven't lived as long as I have, for it all to come crashing down on me now."

"I know," Kronos replied.

Kronos pushed Methos against the pillows and told him to lie down; he got up and went into the bathroom and returned with a cold wet cloth and lightly ran the cloth around Methos' eyes.

"2,000 years you said, waking up in the night screaming," he said.

Methos tiredly looked at him and nodded.

"Not much _of_ a life though, has it been?"

His comment upset Methos further and he started crying again.

"Oh be quiet," Kronos told him, "I didn't mean it that way."

He leaned down and kissed Methos and brushed the tears away and watched his brother. Methos was and had always been the survivor, he was never the strongest or the toughest, he fought and he was good at it, but there was always somebody who could outdo him. Now it seemed that measures wouldn't even need to be taken to behead him in order to finish him off; whoever was after them was taking care of things on a higher level than pure animalistic violence, now it was psychological warfare. And Kronos started to worry that Methos didn't have it in him anymore to rise above it; he worried that the outcome of this sadistic game may in fact render his little brother completely and utterly insane with no hope of recovery. But no matter what happened, Kronos knew that he couldn't let Methos know that that's what was going through his mind. One of them had to be sure of themselves, and even if he wasn't, he'd never let Methos know it.

"Kronos," Methos reached out and grabbed Kronos' hand in his own, "Don't leave me…please, don't ever leave me."

If Kronos had a heart in his chest that would have been the moment it broke. Never in all his life did Kronos ever hear Methos sound as desperate or broken as he did now.

"I'm not going to leave you, Methos," he told his brother, "I swear."

* * *

Kronos finally got Methos to calm down and had him rest for a while. Kronos sat in a chair by the bed and watched his brother while he slept. That was a hard habit of his to break; it had started four thousand years ago when they found out Methos had a tendency to walk in his sleep. Some nights Kronos laid awake wondering if he still did it; fortunately there had been nothing in his recent stay with him to suggest it had started up again.

There was a knock on the door and it woke Methos up.

"I'll get it," Kronos got up and went over to the door and opened it up.

"Mister," the young man pushing the dinner cart said, "You really shouldn't open the door without asking who it is first. There's been a lot of weird things going on around here lately."

"Fine," Kronos slammed the door shut in the man's face and asked, "Who is it?"

"Room service."

Kronos opened the door again and pulled the cart into the room and said, "Thank you," before kicking it shut again.

Methos laughed and asked, "Was that really necessary?"

"So what if it wasn't? It was fun," Kronos replied, "Come over here and get your dinner."

Methos rubbed one eye and walked over to the cart and lifted the lid off one of the plates and took it back over to the bed.

"Are you feeling better now?" Kronos asked.

Methos nodded, "A little, I'm sorry…"

"Nothing to be sorry for, don't worry about it."

"It's just that my life has _never_ been in this bad of shape, not even when Kalas was coming for my head. You know, you lie awake at night thinking about it'll happen someday, but when it actually does…"

"Don't worry, Methos, I'll find out what's going on and who's responsible and when I do…" the rest went without saying.

"I know, Kronos, I know that you think you can settle all of what's going on but…"

"Methos, have I ever let you down before?"

Yes but Methos wasn't about to say that. What was done was done and that had happened over 2,000 years ago, he had to let it go.

"I told you I'll take care of it, now eat your dinner, no sense in you becoming any scrawnier than you already are."

Methos was tired of arguing with his brother, especially when Kronos was dead set on winning, so he humored his brother and did as he was told.

"Kronos."

"What?"

"…I'm glad you came out here."

"So am I, you were in pretty terrible shape the first night I got here, but you seem to be coming around now," Kronos replied.

"Coming around to what?" Methos asked.

Kronos had an answer, but he wasn't going to tell Methos anytime soon.


	9. Chapter 9

After dinner, the two brothers settled on the bed and lay back against the headboard, both looking on ahead at the wall in front of them, neither saying a word, until Methos finally commented:

"So this is what it feels like to be an old married couple on a second honeymoon."

"Married couple, eh?"

A mischievous smirk formed on Kronos' face as an idea came to him. He yawned and raised both arms above his head and settled one of them around Methos' back and gripped his shoulder. When he moved closer to his brother, Methos pushed him away and replied, "Not now, I'm not in the mood."

Kronos laughed, "You _sound_ like a woman I was married to alright."

Methos nodded, "_You_ sound like a woman I was married to as well. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad."

"What would be?" Kronos asked.

"Well, most people tend to marry people who are like their parents, regardless of how the parents acted. It seems we marry women who are like each other," Methos told him.

"It makes sense if you ask me," Kronos said, "You spend 2,000 years away from someone, you're bound to look for a person with similar qualities."

"Yeah, you'd be surprised how many big mean bossy women there are in this world," Methos said.

Kronos turned and looked at him and Methos turned and looked at the wall; Kronos balled his hand into a fist and drew it back to strike but Methos turned back towards him at the last second and Kronos let it go and looked away.

"I just thought of something," Methos said.

"What's that?"

"Suppose there's a camera in this room."

Kronos turned back to Methos and asked, "What's that?"

"Some hotels do that you know, they hide cameras in the rooms and record what the customers do."

"What the hell for?" Kronos asked.

"Well…" Methos said in a suggestive tone.

The look on Kronos' face was priceless as he put two and two together and concluded, "Now that's just _sick!_"

Methos was starting to laugh as he responded, "I know."

Kronos sprang off the bed and started pacing back and forth.

"That's the sickest thing I've heard in a long time and you believe me, I've heard plenty of them, I…hey!"

With that, he jumped back on the bed by his brother.

"Hey what?" Methos asked.

"How thick do you suppose they make the walls in these places?"

"What?"

"Remember what you said the first night we were at the bar, that the people there were going to get the wrong idea about us?"

"Yes and if my memory serves, all eyes _were_ on us for quite a while," Methos said, "I haven't seen so many people look that uncomfortable since people first relocated to Massachusetts from England, and they had _plenty_ of reason to be uncomfortable."

That same mischievous smirk formed on Kronos' face again and all he seemed to have to say was, "Well…"

"Well what?" Methos asked.

Kronos was starting to laugh as he explained, "I'm going to guess they don't make the walls in hotels very thick, so probably it's very easy for other people to hear what's going on in these rooms…well, if anybody's struck with enough morbid curiosity to be listening in on us, I say we give them something worth listening to."

Methos was starting to get an idea of what Kronos had in mind and he quickly got off the bed and started to back away.

"Oh no you don't, Kronos," he said, "You stay away from me."

"Not this time."

Methos turned to get away but Kronos jumped him and they both fell to the floor. Methos struggled to get away but Kronos had him pinned against the floor; all the same Methos struggled with everything in him to get loose from his brother's grip. Kronos kept Methos' arms locked behind his back and with his brother in no position to escape, he leaned in against him and started kissing him like a drunken fool. Methos alternated between screaming and laughing as he tried to break away but to no avail. While he wasn't able to get away he was able to throw his weight against Kronos and knock him onto the floor; but Kronos was too stubborn to let go of him so they spent the next half hour rolling on top of each other on the floor.

Considering all the noise they were making Methos was sure the other guests and the staff _had_ to have heard the ruckus and they all must have been drawing some pretty wild conclusions; and it was then that he realized this was exactly what Kronos had planned. Somehow Kronos always saw that his ideas were carried out; regardless of everything and everybody involved, and he especially didn't care who came out of it embarrassed to death.

After what seemed like an eternity, both men lost their strength to continue with the struggle any further; the only thing they had the energy left to do now was look at each other and laugh. Kronos lay on top of Methos, too exhausted to get up, and too exhausted to roll off of him. He snaked his arms around Methos' back and said, "I've missed this."

"I've missed _you_," Methos reciprocated.

"I know," Kronos replied, "But I'm back now, and that's all that matters."

Methos tiredly smiled and wrapped his arms around Kronos' back. Kronos leaned in closer and kissed him. This was something else that both were quite familiar with. Methos claimed that he had forgotten a lot about his past; but from where the Horsemen came in, Kronos recalled every detail of their lives from so long ago. One thing he particularly remembered was how in the beginning, how inconsolable Methos could be; he was scared to death of everything and everyone and anybody who came near him and tried to comfort him, he would fight them with everything in him.

* * *

One night early on, Methos began screaming in his sleep and the other three brothers woke him up and when he was aware of his surroundings, he tried to run away. Kronos being the closest to Methos pinned him down so he couldn't escape, and that either reminding him of his nightmare, or his life before they found him, terrified him and he screamed like an injured beast. Kronos sent Silas and Caspian away and insisted he could take care of things; Kronos, a charmer by nature had handled many women in a similar way before, so he did what he knew best. He shut Methos up by kissing him and not pulling away until neither had any breath left in them. If having his new brother pinned on top of him had terrified Methos, having Kronos kiss him like a love-starved fool traumatized him to no return. He fought, he resisted, he tried beating Kronos with his fists but Kronos was too heavy for him to get out from underneath and he wouldn't ease up.

When Kronos finally let him go, Methos wouldn't look up at him; in almost a shameful manner he kept his head low to the ground and crawled back to bed. Later in the night he ran away when the others were asleep, but Kronos found him down by the river. Methos looked terrified when he saw Kronos coming and realized he couldn't get away.

"You have no reason to be afraid of me, Methos," he said, "I'm not going to hurt you."

Methos didn't try to run but he was shaking like a man freezing to death. Kronos grabbed hold of him and waited for what they would later know as convulsions, to pass.

"Now tell me what's wrong," Kronos said.

Methos pulled away from Kronos and kept his head down as he explained to Kronos that he didn't want to tell him. It didn't matter much though, Kronos had seen it all across the land; he knew exactly what kind of life Methos had led long before they had found him.

It took a good long while to convince Methos that he wasn't going to be returning to his old way of life as a slave who did anything and everything to please his heartless master. Methos told Kronos that he knew things weren't the same, and that they wouldn't be.

"Please don't laugh at me if I tell you how I know," Methos said.

Kronos swore he wouldn't. All the same Methos was too embarrassed to look at Kronos as he answered.

"It was the way you kissed me," he shyly answered, "Nobody ever…" even in the dark of night Kronos could see his face turning red, "It was…"

"It wasn't unpleasant," Kronos said.

Methos shook his head. This whole ordeal was embarrassing to him but it was a relief to Kronos because it was the first time since they'd rescued him that he even resembled being happy.

"I know," Kronos told him, "I know exactly what it's like…we all come from the same life."

Methos hadn't expected that; it left him with a question.

"How did _you_ get away?"

Kronos smiled as he recalled, "The last one I served had a wife…she was nice. He was a soldier, he was gone a lot in battle."

Methos seemed to be coming to the conclusion already.

"And _she_ stayed with you."

"Naturally…I learned a lot from her."

Kronos ran his hands down the sides of Methos' ribs to demonstrate; Methos laughed and stepped back.

"She didn't want to be married to him anymore, so we made a plan. She got a dagger and gave it to me. When he returned he took her inside and pushed her on the bed and got on top of her. I killed him before he could even realize what had happened; we burnt his body, took his horses and his gold and left."

"Is that how you got over what they did to you?" Methos asked.

"It took me a _long_ time to get over what had been done to me by those bastards, it probably won't be anytime soon for you either."

That wasn't what Methos had wanted to hear. Kronos kissed him on the mouth again and on his cheek. For whatever reason, it seemed to work and Methos started to laugh again.

"That's better, now come on," Kronos said, "Let's go back."

* * *

4,000 years later, they still had an understanding, albeit a slightly better one than in the beginning. Kronos would never say it to Methos but he felt he understood the whole ordeal better than his brother did. When a master demanded their personal services, he wasn't looking for affection, companionship, or love. All he wanted was unquestioned obedience, and when they the slaves didn't dare disobey, the master saw little reason not to be as merciless and brutal as he could be for his own sick pleasure.

Those the two Immortals had served knew nothing about passion or affection and everything about fear and terror. Every kiss, every touch they made towards their slaves, it was all a test of their loyalty and had nothing to do with love or even consideration towards their servants. And they always saw to it that the slaves never disappointed them because if they refused to serve their masters, they were met with punishments beyond anything they had previously had the misfortune of suffering.

It never seemed to matter how far they got away from their pasts and how far they had come from serving those sadists, the damage done to them by the bastards stayed with them all their lives. Immortals were not meant to live in isolation but a good number of them tried in vain to live their whole lives so because they could never move past what had been done to them by other people that surrounded them. Kronos himself stayed away from people many times as best he could because he knew that even though times changed and nations rose and fell, a person didn't have to be a master in order to be a heartless masochistic bastard who thrived on the pain and fear of those he surrounded himself with.

Kronos suspected that Methos suffered a similar fate and that's why despite having 67 wives he spent so much time alone even though he detested it. Now in his own time Kronos had had the intimate companionship of a good number of women who found him to be too affectionate, even for them. One he recalled asked if he was seeing a psychiatrist about his problem. That's what was wrong with people, you act a little different than the rest of the world and suddenly _you're_ the one with a problem. However Kronos had often suspected that because he was the way he was, that was why Methos had been able to come out of screaming blue murder anytime somebody got close to him.

Between the two brothers there was and had always been an understanding that only the two of them knew about. A long time ago Kronos had come up with the theory that the only people closer and more intimate than lovers were brothers because they understood each other the most; each felt the other's pain and both had something to gain from the other's happiness.

Kronos pulled up and away from Methos and looked down at him.

"You know," he said, "You look kind of cute right about now."

Methos couldn't be furious now to save his life. He was too tired and even though he hadn't had much to drink at dinner he felt too drunk for it; he just looked away and laughed.

Kronos got off of Methos and helped him back onto his feet.

"Well now you look like you're enjoying yourself," Kronos said.

Methos had an idea as to why that was but he wasn't about to say anything just yet.

"I guess I'm just happy to be with you again after all this time," Methos said as he stepped next to Kronos and threw his arms around his brother.

Kronos didn't say anything but the thought going through his head at that time was, _"If you think you're happy now, just wait until we get the hell out of here."_

* * *

Methos slowly woke up and saw that the room was dark. He remembered that they weren't at his apartment but in a hotel room; but one thing he couldn't remember was going to bed. Turning on his side he saw Kronos was slowly coming around as well.

"Sleep well?" he asked.

Methos tiredly nodded, "What time is it?"

Kronos got up and picked up the clock off the nightstand, "10 o' clock in the morning and forecast for rain."

"How do you know that?" Methos asked.

No sooner had he said that, a deafening clap of thunder boomed out of nowhere and it almost sent Methos jumping out of bed.

"Call it an instinct," Kronos innocently commented.

"So what're we going to do today?" Methos asked.

Kronos thought about it for a minute before answering, "I'm content to just stay here all day, how about you?"

Methos nodded and rested his head back against the pillows.

"Last night was nice, we'll have to do it again sometime," Kronos said.

Methos thought about that for a minute before asking, "What exactly _did_ happen last night?"

Kronos started to laugh, "Now you don't mean to tell me that you forgot."

"Well there are certain parts that I don't remember, like where it all ended and when we got to bed."

"Well…for one thing we cleared out every last bottle in that bar, after which…well," he laughed, "I really don't know what happened after that, all I remember is I woke up at about 2:30 and found you under the bed trying to dig up the carpet."

Methos looked at his hands as if he was trying to remember the event.

"That must have been _some_ wine we drank."

Kronos laughed, "You can say that again."

The two brothers lay alongside each other for a few minutes in a tired state, taking in the peace of mind each seemed to have found in the other's company. Suddenly, something happened that made it all come crashing down. Both immediately felt the quickening of an Immortal coming down the hallway to their room. Before Methos could even move, Kronos had already jumped out of bed and picked up his Luger and had it aimed at the door.

The door opened and in stepped of all people, Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod, and Methos at that very moment was paralyzed in bed with shock; all the while wanting to crawl under a rock somewhere at that instant.

Apparently this wasn't the scene that MacLeod had intended to stumble upon either. He stood in the doorway with a look on his face that was so commonly referred to as a deer in headlights.

"Adam…" was all he managed to say.

Kronos, even less thrilled by this company, let out an exasperated sigh, but didn't lower the aim of his gun any.

Methos let out a surprising scream as he jumped out of bed; one that was so sudden and so high pitched that it nearly scared the other two Immortals out of their skins. Instead of saying anything, Methos let out another scream only this one was closer to a laugh; and slowly it became a maniacal laugh of a man who had truly gone insane, and that was the only noise he made as he all but jumped across the room, into the bathroom, and slammed the door shut behind him.

Kronos returned his attention, and the aim of his gun, to MacLeod and said, "Well home wrecker, I sure hope you have a good excuse for barging in like this first thing in the bloody morning."

Duncan closed the door behind him so nobody could walk in on this sight by accident.

"I was worried about Adam," he defensively responded, "I heard what happened yesterday and…"

"And it took you all of 20 hours to come and see how he was doing," Kronos said, "You'll have to do better than that, MacLeod."

Kronos watched as a glare built up in MacLeod's eyes; MacLeod was trying to think of where he had met with this man before.

"You're looking at me as if you know me," Kronos said with a sinister, knowing smile on his face, "You _don't_ know me."

"I want to know," Duncan said, "What are you to Adam?"

"To Adam?" Kronos repeated, "Nothing. To Methos," oh he loved that terrorized look of shock that was building in MacLeod's eyes, "More than you'll ever know. We," he continued, "Are brothers; does that mean anything to you?"

He was talking as if MacLeod were a simpleton, and truth be told Kronos wasn't thinking much different of him right now.

Duncan however at that time was so shocked by what Kronos had just said, he seemed to fit the expression that you could knock him over with a feather.

"That's right, MacLeod, the man you've known as Adam Pierson for two years, and I, have been brothers for well over 4,000 years, can you even begin to understand what that means? I didn't think so…well learn this lesson well, I may have been absent for a while, but I'm back now and I have no intentions of leaving. If I find out _anybody_ hurt my brother, I'm going to kill them, I've already killed well over 10,000 people in my life, one more isn't going to bother my conscience at all. Now, given that my brother for some crazy reason seems to like you, I'm going to give you the chance to get the hell out, but you better do it before I change my mind," Kronos warned him, "Just because he likes you doesn't mean I have to, and hell will freeze over before I do."

MacLeod wasn't stupid enough to press his luck. He opened the door and left the way he came. When that was over, Kronos shook his head and put his gun back down on the nightstand. Even for being as old as he was and having done all that he did, his nerves were still frazzled by this recent series of events; and what had just happened wasn't making him feel any better about it all.

Kronos went over to the bathroom door and listened in. Not a sound, a terrible contrast to the maniacal noises Methos was making just a few moments ago. If it weren't for the undying quickening that was practically booming in his skull, he would swear Methos probably slit his wrists with a razor or drowned himself in the bathtub. Still, Kronos wasn't sure barging in on him was going to do much good. He had seen that look on Methos' face when MacLeod came through the door; this apparently wasn't a visit either of them had had planned. So he decided he'd leave Methos to himself for a while and give him time to take in what had happened and move on from there.

So he gave his brother some room to breathe; during which time he got dressed, made the bed, threw out the wine bottles and straightened up a few other things in the room. He wound up waiting over two hours and still Methos wasn't showing any signs of being alive yet. Kronos went over to the door and listened and the room was still as quiet as the dead. He knocked on the door and heard no response.

"Methos, come on out of there, MacLeod's gone, neither of us has killed the other yet, there's nobody here except me."

He backed away from the door and a minute later it opened and Methos stepped out looking half dead. He kept his head down as he came back into the room, he wouldn't look towards Kronos at all.

"Methos, are you okay?" Kronos asked.

Methos slowly nodded his head and walked over towards his brother.

"I'm not sure I believe you," he reached over and grabbed Methos by the arm, "Come here."

With less than ease, Kronos pulled Methos onto his lap and Methos was less than thrilled to say the least. It gave Kronos a chance to look him dead in the eyes; they were telltale red.

"What's wrong?" Kronos asked.

Methos didn't answer and he dropped his gaze.

"I bet I know," Kronos said, "You were worried if MacLeod and I met," the rest of that thought seemed to need no further explanation, "Well, so we didn't get along, so what? He's still alive, I'm still here, nobody ever said brothers had to get along with friends."

However Kronos could tell by the way Methos was acting that that was the least of his worries.

"What is it?" Kronos asked, "Don't tell me…you're worried if MacLeod finds out about your little past, he'll drop you like a rattler."

Methos closed his eyes and shamefully buried his face in his hands.

"I thought as much," Kronos said, "I still wish you could explain just _why_ you're so fond of that bastard."

Methos tried to get up but Kronos pulled him back down onto his lap.

"Don't worry, MacLeod's not going to find out, not from me anyway," Kronos assured him, "Apparently he's the sort best left in the dark about things like this, and hell if I'm going to give him a light."

He leaned over and kissed Methos and said, "Feeling better now?"

"A little," Methos sheepishly replied.

"Good, get dressed, I'll have them send up our lunch."

Methos got up and went over to the bed and picked up his clothes and got dressed while Kronos called room service. After he hung up he sat down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling and started laughing.

"What is it?" Methos asked.

"The look on your face when MacLeod walked in," Kronos answered, "You sure weren't expecting that, and that _sound_ you made," he laughed, "That was worse than listening to a chicken with its head cut off!"

As Methos recalled the events of earlier that day, he started to laugh as well.

"It would seem also that Macleod sure wasn't expecting to walk in on both of us in bed," he added, "Did you see the look on _his_ face?"

Kronos was about to fall off the bed laughing.

"How old is he?" Kronos asked.

"400 years old."

"He must originate from one of those rigid four corners of the earth," Kronos said, "Usually you get around that long and it's no big surprise to find two men in the same bed."

"That's not what bothers him…not so much as the simple fact of catching the world's oldest man in bed with another man…I don't know why, or what, but MacLeod expects something from me because I'm the oldest."

"What's that?" Kronos asked.

"I don't know…you should have seen him when I told him I had 67 wives, he couldn't believe it. It's like he expects me to be a hermit all my life or something."

"However I'll take it he didn't just get out of a monastery himself," Kronos said.

Methos shook his head, remembering what he'd seen of Amanda over the years.

"Well," Kronos said, "Something tells me that these next few days are going to give him one hell of a wakeup call."

That was exactly what Methos was worried about.

* * *

That night as the two lay beside each other in the bed; Kronos looked up at the ceiling in the darkened room and listened to the even breathing coming from the other side of the bed. Methos, thank God, had fallen asleep with no trouble and had stayed asleep for over an hour now; tonight it was Kronos' turn to be the emotional wreck. He had tried to sleep but had forgone that idea when his mind started filling with memories from thousands of years ago. He recalled the first few years that the four of them were together; and in so, he recalled the many nights that none of them slept because Methos was plagued with nightmares from which he would often suffer violent results.

Kronos remembered times when Methos' whole body would go into such violent convulsions that he practically threw himself off the ground and into the air. Another time he recalled Caspian got to Methos first and tried to wake him up, but Methos, still caught up in his nightmare, struggled and dug his fingers into Caspian's flesh. By the time Kronos and Silas got there, Caspian looked like a bear had clawed him, blood seemed to be running down his entire body.

It seemed to take forever for Methos to finally stop having nightmares every single night, and even longer for it to pass that he woke everybody up when he was having them. Kronos had never been able to figure out what the nightmares were about, Methos would never tell him, sometimes he would say he couldn't remember; but Kronos never believed that to be true. One thing Kronos knew was that after all those years of sleep deprivation and putting up with Methos, he had no envy for the mothers who kept their retarded children at home instead of handing them over to an asylum, because the one bright side he could actually look at was that Methos had come out of it after only a few years.

As Kronos looked over to the other side of the bed and saw Methos lost in a deep sleep, it seemed to him, for the moment anyway, that that wasn't something that would be repeating soon.

"Thank God," he said as he moved over and lay down behind Methos and went to sleep by his side.

His nerves had been shot on and off for almost 4,000 years and even he of all people was entitled to an uninterrupted night of sleep.

* * *

The storm woke Kronos up at four in the morning; luckily though, Methos was in too deep of a sleep to hear it. Kronos turned on his side and tried to go back to sleep, but something was wrong and he knew it. He got out of bed and walked over to the door, opened it and looked out. Their room was in the middle of the floor so he could look up the hall and down it and see if anybody else was coming. For this time of day, the hall was pitch dark, it was only when lightning lit up the room that he saw there wasn't anybody out, and nobody looking out either. As he looked up the hall, one particularly bright bolt of lightning made the room as lit up as in the daytime, and he saw the knob on the door at the end of the hall turning. Kronos pulled back and closed the door all by an inch or so, and waited.

Over the rumble of the thunder Kronos wasn't able to hear the person come down the hall, and they were mortal so he wasn't able to feel them either; lightning filled the room again _just_ as the person walked past their door. Kronos got a decent look at him to realize his suspicions were correct; it _was_ the same man who ran them off the road. It was then that the gears started turning in his head and he got an idea. Acting quickly, he got dressed and pocketed his Luger where he could get it in a second's notice and secured his sword inside of his jacket. He looked back to the bed and saw Methos was still asleep; Kronos walked back over to the bed and kissed his brother before fixing the lock on the door to bolt behind him before slipping out of the room and following the bastard.


	10. Chapter 10

Kronos followed the man halfway through the town and stopped and stayed behind to watch as the man went up to a dark house. The man knocked on the door and after a few minutes, the lights came on and the door opened. Kronos couldn't believe it; the bastard that had run them off the road the day before had come to see Methos' friend, the gray haired Watcher from the bar. The two men went inside and the door closed behind them and for the next half hour; Kronos stood under a large tree waiting for lightning to strike him. His blood boiled in his veins; he didn't know what was going on but he was going to find out and when he did, somebody was going to die.

When the man finally left, Kronos came out of hiding and went up to the front door and pounded on it a couple of times. The lights came on again and the door opened up and the Watcher was shocked to see who stood before him.

"Kronos."

So word had gotten around about him being in town; no doubt that fool MacLeod went and told everybody he knew about it.

Kronos showed himself inside, and Joe followed.

"Come right on in, make yourself right at home," Joe cynically commented, "Now that you're in here why don't we just cut the crap and get down to the basics? Why are you here?"

"Who was that that just left?" Kronos asked.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Joe asked.

"_I'm_ the one asking the questions here, and you _better_ have the answers," Kronos said, "Now who was that?"

"Dave Meltzer, he's a…"

"A Watcher," Kronos said as they headed into the living room.

"Yes."

"Ah ha!" Kronos practically went through the roof, "I knew it. _Only_ a bastard of that variety would be dumb enough to pull what he did."

Joe was completely lost. "Pull what?"

"My brother called you yesterday telling you that somebody chased us on the road, they even had the balls to try and shoot him…he told you that, didn't he?"

"Yes he did but…"

"Well I found that little bastard tonight, I followed him and he led me right here to you…if I find out you had anything to do with this I'll disembowel you myself."

To Joe, Kronos wasn't making any sense. Of course, Joe was about ready to keel over from exhaustion and it didn't matter much to him anyway.

"Oh why don't you shut up?" Joe said as he sat down, "If you're going to try and kill me, come over and do it at a decent hour of the day. I've had all I can take for one day, I have to get woken up at 4:30 in the morning by Meltzer to let me know there's bad news regarding Adam Pierson, and I have to endure that _after_ MacLeod springs over here like a bat out of hell and he talks my ear off into all hours of the night."

"What for?" Kronos asked as he sat down across from Joe.

Joe looked up at him, dead into his eyes and said, "Well I've heard plenty of crazy things before in my time, but what he came over here squawking about just takes it all. He came over here to tell me that he went to see Methos at the hotel where you're staying, and he came in and found the two of you together in bed."

It took every ounce of restraint Kronos had in him not to fall on the floor laughing when he heard that.

"And what," he started to lose it, "What did you have to say about that?"

"Considering that I had to hear it four times before I could even understand what MacLeod was saying," Joe said, "I thought he had just lost his mind. An hour later he was still going on about it, a bit more coherently, but I still think he might've just lost his mind."

"That was the impression I gathered when he busted into our room this morning…and my brother…"

Kronos grabbed a shot glass on the table in front of him and smashed it, grounding the shards into his hand but hardly feeling a thing, "If MacLeod's gone crazy, he's trying to take my brother down with him."

That got Joe's attention.

"What're you talking about?" he asked.

"When MacLeod showed up today, Methos acted like he belonged in a madhouse, for two minutes he's screaming like a crazy person, for two hours he doesn't make a sound. After he called you yesterday he started puking his guts up, before that…I don't even know why the hell I'm telling you this…maybe as fair warning."

"Warning for what?" Joe asked.

"My brother is not a well man."

"You mean he's sick?" Joe asked.

"Not as you know it but he is," Kronos said, "My brother is a very conniving man. He can make anybody believe anything they want to about him. He can say all he wants that he has no conscience, that he hasn't felt guilt since the 11th century, but I know him better than that. He's making himself sick over what's been happening. Before, it was understandable what was happening to him, somebody in your bar was tainting his drinks with something to knock him out…how they got something strong enough to work is beyond me…but after that…after that he started getting sick of his own accord. My brother, for reasons I can't conceive, is so worried about what MacLeod's going to do, he's making himself sick from worry.

"It's really not so hard to believe, people make themselves sick all the time, consciously and otherwise, sometimes to gain something by it…not my brother. He doesn't even realize that he's doing it, for some reason he is scared to death about what MacLeod will do if he finds out what Methos has done."

Joe wasn't too surprised to hear this; he had figured Methos had a past since he never talked about it. He was tempted to ask just what Methos had done but he wasn't going to bother with it. It didn't seem to matter because another train of thought was coming to Kronos now.

"You said that bastard who just left, he said something about my brother, _what_ about him?" Kronos asked.

"I don't know, I don't know anything, all I know is he said something's up with Adam Pierson, he wouldn't say what, but he said he'd have the full details soon," Joe told him, "I don't like _that_ either. Maybe I haven't known him as long as you have but hell if I'm going to stand by and let somebody ambush him."

"Again," Kronos said.

"Again?"

"He never told you when he got back, did he? You recall a few years ago when he called you, was trying to explain something that was going on with the Watchers. I was there, they jumped him, they dragged him off into the middle of the wilderness and they spent three consecutive days and nights torturing him mercilessly. They had found out he was Immortal, and those bastards enjoyed watching him as he suffered. Your own men, I killed them once and I will again if they keep on like this."

"You'll have to get in line," Joe told him.

That wasn't what Kronos had expected to hear.

"He's your brother, but he's my friend too, he's put his neck on the line for me more than once…and I'll be only too happy to repay the favor. When I find out who's responsible…"

"Well you already have _one_ lead," Kronos told him.

"They're not going to live long enough to regret it," Joe said.

Kronos had an idea he was starting to like this guy.

"Methos is still at the hotel?" Joe asked.

"Yes."

"Then you better get back there and keep an eye on him until we can figure out what the hell's going on," Joe said, "I was about to call him when you came barging in."

"Considering he can sleep through this storm, you wouldn't have woken him up anyway," Kronos said as he got to his feet.

"One more thing," Joe said.

"What's that?" Kronos asked.

"You two really been brothers for 4,000 years?"

"Yes."

"Then you better take good care of him, if you don't, you're going to have to answer to me," Joe warned him.

* * *

It was after six in the morning when Kronos returned to their hotel room. Methos was still in bed and didn't move at all when Kronos came in. Apparently he must have been dead tired not to acknowledge an oncoming quickening; it was things like this that made Kronos question how his brother had survived for so long. It was late, and Kronos was too tired to think very long about it; he undressed again and climbed into bed alongside his brother; and within a few minutes was dead to the world himself. However it wasn't with his mind at ease; the entire time he spent coming back he had been thinking.

Four years ago Methos had said he didn't want a war to break out between the Immortals and the Watchers, but it looked like that was exactly what was about to happen. It might not be on a worldwide level but the Watchers were planning something; and Methos was their target. Why? Why his brother again, and why now? Horton was dead; Kronos had dug up the grave and seen the corpse for himself to confirm that. So who was responsible this time? That son of a bitch Meltzer couldn't have been the only one involved, what more he couldn't be the brains behind it all either. It was that thought that occupied Kronos' mind as sleep finally took him.

* * *

Once Joe was able to get rid of his unwanted company, he had tried to go back to bed but something was keeping him up. Part of him suspected it was from earlier that day when MacLeod came over; his whole appearance and behavior was just too funny to forget. He had barged in ranting and raving like a madman, everything except for foaming at the mouth.

"_MacLeod, what's the matter?"_ he asked.

It took three or four times before Joe could understand him.

"_I went over to see Methos at his hotel room to see if he was alright. When I got there, he was in bed with Kronos!"_

"_What? What're you talking about?"  
_

"_Methos and Kronos were in bed together, Joe. Oh my God I couldn't believe what I saw."_

Joe tried to keep himself from laughing, but he just couldn't resist, morbid curiosity got the better of him and he just had to ask, _"What were they doing?"_

"_Well nothing! Methos didn't move at all from where he was and Kronos grabbed a gun and aimed it at me as if I were…"_

"_An intruder?"_

"_Well yes."_

"_I'm guessing you didn't announce your arrival before you barged in on them, so you were being an intruder."_

"_That's beside the point, Joe...I…I…I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked in. The two of them in bed together."_

Joe was about to crack trying not to laugh, but curiosity pushed him forward, _"Please tell me they were wearing something."_

MacLeod looked away sheepishly, the answer wasn't a no, but it was hardly a yes either. Even though it was obvious how ridiculous it was, Joe just couldn't resist playing it in a deadpan way.

"_So a half naked man points a gun at your head after catching the two of them in bed together and just what is the big shock of it all?"_

"_That's not it, Joe…Kronos said that he…and Methos…he said they're brothers."_

"_Brothers? The two of them? That must have been one ugly mother."_

"_He said they've been brothers for 4,000 years, can you believe it?"_

"_Okay, so if it's true, where's Kronos been all this time?"_

"_I don't know…that's what I can't figure out, if that were true, why wouldn't Methos have told us?"_

"_Do you tell your friends everything about your life?"  
_

He had started to answer that he did, but at the last second he changed his mind, knowing better than that.

"_I still can't believe it though."_

"_Which part of it?"_

"_All of it, everything…Methos has been acting weird ever since Kronos came here, and today I find out this…oh God, the two of them in bed together."_

That seemed to be the biggest part that he couldn't get past at the time, and Joe was about to burst laughing.

"_So what do you think, Mac? You think that Methos and Kronos were…"_

The look on Duncan's face when he said that was priceless.

"_Oh God, I don't even want to think about that."_

The dam burst and Joe started laughing loud enough to wake the dead.

"_MacLeod, how did you get to be so old being so narrow minded? Do you honestly believe that just because they were in bed together that they're sleeping together?"_

"_I don't know…I don't want to think about it, all I know is that there's a lot going on that Methos isn't telling us about."_

"_Probably for good reason, you're about to have a heart attack already from not knowing anything! What did Methos say when you were there?"_

"_Nothing, he jumped out of bed and went into the bathroom, laughing like a maniac."_

"_He must have thought it was pretty amusing too."_

"_Joe…"_

"_Mac, you don't know what's going on, you don't know Kronos, you hardly know Methos when you think about it. And you are about to go out of your mind just from jumping to conclusions about everything."_

"_But Joe, none of this makes any sense."_

"_I know it doesn't, Mac, but it's between them, not us, so why don't you go home and rest and forget about it? If Methos wants us to know what's going on, he will, and if he doesn't, then it's none of our concern."_

And now here Joe was and he knew better now. Kronos was without doubt a very dangerous man; and where his brother was concerned he could be even more deadly. There was still a lot to it all that Joe didn't know and he wasn't sure he wanted to know, but he knew if they were going to find it out, they would within time. But now Joe had to wonder just what in hell was going on with Meltzer and what it all had to do with Methos.

* * *

"What did he say the Watcher's name was?" Methos asked.

When they both had woken up later that morning, Kronos told Methos what he found out the night before from Joe.

"He said the bastard's name was Dave Meltzer, does that mean anything to you?" Kronos asked.

Methos thought about it for a minute, and then it came to him. A grave look came over him and his eyes looked upward, "Oh dear God in Heaven, this can't be happening."

"What is it?"

"How fast do you think we can get to Costa Rica?" Methos asked.

"Methos, what's wrong?"

"Kronos…one of the Watchers you killed four years ago was Travis Meltzer, David must be his son!"

That was good enough for Kronos, he got to his feet and told Methos, "Stay here," as he left the room and went up the hall.

Now Methos was finding it very hard to breathe and he needed to lie down. Just as his back hit the mattress, Kronos returned in a huff explaining, "Meltzer's gone, he checked out earlier this morning."

Methos buried his face in a pillow to stifle the noise he was making. Kronos jumped on the bed next to him and pulled the pillow away to look at his brother.

"If we find this bastard and kill him…"

"But if we don't find him in time," Methos said.

"What's the worst he can do?"

"He knows I'm Immortal, he's a Watcher, he knows I'm in the Watchers, when they find out it's going to be an all out war," Methos said.

"If that were the case, wouldn't he have spilled your little secret to everybody by now?" Kronos asked.

Methos was at a loss; he didn't know what was going on and he didn't know what to think. Kronos grabbed him and tried to pull him to his feet.

"I think we better just get out of town while there's still time," Methos said.

"For once I agree," Kronos said, "Though not for the same reason. We'll go back to your place and get packed everything you'll need and then we'll get the hell out."

"Wait," Methos said, "Before we leave, there's something else I have to do."

"What's that?" Kronos asked.

"I have to go to MacLeod, and Joe, and Richie, and I have to tell them that I'm leaving. It's the least I can do."

"No, the least you can do is send them a postcard when we get to Central America," Kronos replied.

"Kronos, please, it's something I have to do."

Kronos could see that Methos wasn't going to budge from where he stood on this decision, and it would be useless to try and get him to reconsider. He didn't understand just _why_ it was something his brother had to do, but he wasn't going to try and stop Methos.

* * *

That evening, Joe had Duncan and Richie gather at the bar so he could explain what Kronos had told him the night before, and also what Meltzer had told him. They were equally lost on what was going on. Fortunately the bar was pretty much empty so they didn't have to worry much about keeping their voices down.

"What do you think is going to happen with Methos?" Richie asked Joe.

"I wish I knew, I also wish I knew just where the hell Meltzer was, I've been trying to reach him all day to find out what's going on," Joe replied.

As if on cue, the door opened and Dave Meltzer walked in, a clean shaven man in his 20's who looked very professional, and he made a beeline to the bar.

"Joe," he said, "You're not going to believe what I found out."

"Well I sure as hell hope it's good considering you got me up at 4 in the morning for it and didn't even have anything," Joe replied.

"It's _huge_, your friend Adam Pierson, he's not a Watcher, he's an Immortal."

Richie and MacLeod looked to each other in wondering what they were going to do next.

Before Joe could say anything, Meltzer continued, "It's bigger than that though, he's not just _any_ Immortal, he's Methos, the 5,000 year old man."

Joe kept a deadpan look on his face as he said, "Dave, I think you've finally lost your mind, what in the hell are you talking about?"

"I found out that the guy you've known for 12 years as Adam Pierson is really Methos…"

"Where did you find that out?" Joe asked.

"It doesn't matter _where_ I got it, all that matters is that I got it," he turned to the two Immortals, "And you two, you've been friends with this guy and you knew he was Immortal but you never said anything. But I'll bet you didn't know that he was that old, did you? And you, MacLeod, I've done quite a bit of research about you…you tend to surround yourself with the holier-than-thou bunch, but you've been friends with a murderous bastard for the last two years and you never even knew it."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Duncan said.

"Of course you didn't. Did it ever occur to you _why_ Methos never told you about his past? He knows that you have no sympathy for barbaric killers such as he was. But your girlfriend Cassandra, she knows. Your friend Methos was once one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who for two thousand years rode across two continents causing death and destruction everywhere they went. Back then, he was known as Death, and he killed 10,000 innocent people, women and children included. They raided the village where Cassandra lived, they killed her and took her prisoner, they raped her and made her one of their slaves, she lived to serve your friend, that was how she started out as an Immortal. What do you think of your friend now, MacLeod?"

Richie watched MacLeod to see what happened next and he looked very close to losing it. He didn't want to believe what the man was saying but it all sounded too well put together to just be something he or someone else might have invented to get Methos into trouble.

It was at that time that they sensed another Immortal coming and saw Methos coming into the bar. He set foot in and saw who was standing at the bar with Joe and the other two Immortals, and suddenly his blood turned to ice and he was ready to tear somebody's throat out.

"Meltzer," was all he said, his voice as sharp and strong as acid.

"You're a little late, Methos," he replied, "Your friends already know all about you, they know what you've done. You can kill me now but that won't save you, now they know exactly what kind of person you are."

Methos half wanted to jump on him and claw at the man's throat until his head was separated from his body; but he knew if he did that, he would just be giving Meltzer what he wanted, painting a sadistic painting for his friends to see. Methos did nothing and let the man pass. This was going to be one hell of a sendoff.

"Methos," MacLeod finally said when Meltzer had gone, "It's not true what he said is it?"

This was not the time or place to start a fight with them and Methos knew it. He passed MacLeod quickly and went up to the bar to speak to the others.

"I just came to let you know that I'm leaving," he told Joe and Richie, "You won't be bothered by my presence anymore."

"Why?" Richie asked.

Why? When the kid said it, it sounded easy to answer, but if MacLeod asked…

"Methos," Duncan said as he came up to the older Immortal, "What are you running away from, the question or the answer?"

Methos turned to MacLeod and tried to answer as neutrally as he could, "There's no answer, MacLeod, let it be."

"Is what Meltzer said true?" Duncan asked, "Did you kill all those people? What about Cassandra? You knew her too, didn't you?"

He couldn't kill Meltzer but Methos was considering breaking MacLeod's neck instead.

"I'm out of here."

He took two steps forward and Duncan jerked him back against the bar.

"You're not going anywhere. Is what he said true?" Duncan asked.

How was he going to get out of this one?

"I was different, MacLeod, the times were different, the whole _bloody_ world was different…yes! Is that what you wanted to hear? Killing was all I knew, is _that_ what you wanted to hear?"

Methos was past worrying what came of this, he got in MacLeod's face and was just waiting for the bastard Scot to strike back.

"I killed, but I didn't just kill 50, I didn't kill 100, I killed 1000, I killed 10,000…and it wasn't for vengeance, it wasn't for greed, it was because I liked it." He laughed, "Yes, I knew Cassandra, yes I raided her village, yes I chose to take her prisoner, she was nothing, her village was nothing…do you know who I was?" This was the breaking point, "I was Death!"

Though he anticipated it, he never actually saw MacLeod's fist coming, he just felt the hit that he took in his mouth and nose, and felt himself fall back against one of the tables. That was what shocked Richie out of staying at the bar where he was and moving forth.

"Methos!"

He took two steps near the older Immortal when MacLeod's voice filled the bar like a gunshot.

"Don't touch him, Richie!" he warned his former student.

Richie couldn't believe what he was hearing, not from Methos but from the man he had trusted with his own life. It sickened him to see MacLeod come to this.

"Mac!"

"Leave him be! He created this mess he's in," MacLeod told him.

Joe moved from behind the bar over to the table and saw Methos sitting at the table with his face down and one arm over the back of his head. Also Joe could see the Immortal's blood spilled over the top of the table and his body shaking violently.

"Joe!" MacLeod felt betrayed when Joe went alongside Methos to see if he was okay.

Joe looked up at him and said to him, "Go to hell, MacLeod, you go to hell!"

"Why? Because Kronos threatened you if anything happened to his precious brother?" MacLeod asked.

"No, because he's my friend! Whereas you, right now you're acting like somebody I don't even want to know."

Methos started crying as he buried his face in his hands, this wasn't what he had wanted. He didn't want them to start fighting with each other, especially not about him, he wasn't worth it.

Joe put his hand on Methos' back and tried to get his attention but it was as if Methos didn't notice him.

"Methos, are you hurt?"

His only response was a strangled sob as his body started shaking even harder. Richie took a step closer to Methos despite the daggers that MacLeod was staring into him; when fate decided to play another cruel hand in the game and they felt the quickening of another Immortal approaching, and there was no need in guessing who it was.

Kronos opened the door and stepped in and immediately took in the sight before him; his brother slumped over at one of the tables facedown in his own blood convulsing as he cried, two people looking guilty and another looking ready to kill. In the blink of an eye Kronos had crossed through the room and was at the table; he made Joe get back to he could get a better look at his brother. He grabbed Methos by the shoulders and pulled him upright. Methos was now a shell of the man he had been only an hour earlier; his strength had left him and he dared not make eye contact with anybody, least of all his own brother, because he was ashamed.

Kronos wrapped one arm around Methos' back and pulled his brother to lean into him.

"What happened, Methos?" he asked, not a hint of anger in his voice for the guilty party, but all concern for his brother, "Who did it?"

He didn't have to ask though; he had been able to determine that from the moment he stepped into the bar. The guilty person never looks the part and both the boy and the old man were looking guilty as sin; that was good enough for Kronos. He pulled Methos to his feet and took a handkerchief out of his jacket pocket and wiped away the blood that stained his brother's face.

"I think," Duncan said defiantly as he stepped forward, "You better get your brother, and get the hell out."

Kronos knew his priority should have been Methos and nothing else but momentarily he couldn't resist warning MacLeod, "You're just lucky I don't have time to kill you." Then he said to Methos as he helped him move away from the table, "Come on, Methos, we're getting out of here," Methos weakly held back, Kronos wasn't having any of it, "Come on, we're going home…this time tomorrow we'll be in Costa Rica, and away from these bastards."

Richie got in Kronos' way as they headed for the door. No words were exchanged but Kronos demanded to know why he tried to stop them. Richie offered no explanation and only reached over to Methos and tried to think of something to say to the old Immortal, but no words came to him. Methos weakly grabbed Richie's hand and squeezed it slightly, as if trying to assure him of something. Then he let go and the two brothers walked out the door and off into the night.

That left the original three standing in the middle of the bar looking at one another, only now that the excitement had died down and the scapegoat was gone, two sets of daggers that were Joe's and Richie's eyes were now fixated on MacLeod. For the life of him MacLeod couldn't understand how these two people could have been as sympathetic for that murderous bastard he once thought of as a friend, as they were, and looked at him as if he were the enemy.


	11. Chapter 11

* * *

"Meltzer was acting like he was higher than a kite," Joe told Richie and MacLeod a short while later, "I don't know how you could believe a word he said."

"But Methos confirmed it, he admitted to everything," MacLeod replied.

"So he did."

"Joe!"

"That was 4,000 years ago, Mac, it can't be undone, it can't be changed…how was Methos to know the day would come when he'd meet you and have to pay hell for it that far down the road?" Joe asked.

"You don't mean to tell me you're condoning what he did."

"He told you, Mac, different times, different worlds, different rules. People 4,000 years ago lived differently than they do today, hell; they lived differently than people did 400 years ago. You can't compare the two."

"I'm not comparing it, and I can't excuse it!"

"You really mean to say you never killed anybody who didn't have it coming?" Richie asked.

"That was different," Duncan said.

"How?" Joe asked.

"Because Methos enjoyed it, he took pleasure in the killing," Duncan said.

"Meanwhile I haven't seen you beg for forgiveness for the day you nearly took _my_ head," Richie told him, "You seemed to be having a pretty good time when that happened. Who's to say the same thing didn't happen to Methos?"

"I don't believe this," Duncan said, "Methos killed 10,000 innocent people and _I'm_ the bad guy in this."

"Yes you are," Joe told him, "But we're not talking about you now."

"I've got to get out of here," Richie said, "If I have to stick around here much longer, I'm going to…"

He didn't finish but the clenching of his hands in a strangling position said it all. Joe nodded understandingly.

"MacLeod," Joe said, "You know the Watchers have a pretty large file on you and it's not all pretty. Would you like me to pull out every time in history that _you_ didn't behave like a saint and enjoyed it?"

"I know what I've done, and I live with it, but I'm telling you this is different," Duncan said.

"You live with it _now_, did you live with it then or did you enjoy it then?" Joe asked, "Methos is a different man now. Hell, of all you Immortals, who isn't?"

"How can you be sure of that?" Duncan asked, "How do you know he's changed and he's not just putting on another act?"

"Would the man who killed women and children for pleasure, have helped you escape the Dark Quickening you took?" Joe asked, "Would he have fallen over himself to make the last months of Alexa's life the best that he could? What about Richie? Would he have warned you that Richie was with Kristen or would he have just taken both their heads and not said a word? Or maybe he would've let Richie die at her hands. Would the man known as Death, have risked his own neck when I was on trial for my life? And why did he offer you his head when you first met?"

These were questions that MacLeod had no answer for and he knew he was in a losing battle, but still he couldn't allow himself to move from his position in it.

* * *

The door opened to Methos' apartment and Methos and Kronos stepped in; Methos still leaning on Kronos in order to keep moving. In all the time it took for them to get back home Methos hadn't stopped crying and showed no signs of doing so anytime soon even though he had lost all strength to do anything else.

Kronos walked him into the bathroom and turned on the taps and let the tub fill up. He told Methos to stay where he was and he'd be back in a minute. Closing the door behind him, Kronos went to the phone and made another call to Costa Rica. Caspian answered and Kronos told him to get a couple of rooms ready for them, they'd be arriving in the next few days.

"What's going on over there?"

"Nothing, everything's fine," Kronos insisted.

"Did you get everything cleared up?" Caspian asked.

"Yeah, don't worry about that, it's all over," Kronos said before he hung up.

He looked around the bedroom and saw most of Methos' belongings packed up for the morning. When Methos had left for the bar, he had stayed behind for a while getting everything put away that they'd be taking with them. Tomorrow there'd be very little to do before they left this God forsaken hellhole for the rest of their lives.

Kronos returned to the bathroom and found Methos hadn't moved from where he'd left him. He reached over and turned off the taps and told Methos to take off his clothes and get in the tub. Methos didn't quite seem to be all there so Kronos had to help him get undressed and settled in the hot water. Then he took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, he knew he'd be having to play nursemaid again.

"So," Kronos said after a while, "Can you tell me what happened back there?"

It took Methos a few minutes to find himself and answer, "Meltzer was there, he told them everything."

Kronos paused for a moment before responding, "If I'd been there a few minutes earlier…" but he stopped himself from finishing what he was saying.

"What?" Methos asked.

"I found Meltzer right before I came into the bar, I broke his neck," Kronos told him, "I'm sorry."

Methos started crying again when he realized just how avoidable this whole mess could have been if the slightest things had been different.

Kronos took it upon himself to get Methos washed up since his brother seemed too lost in his grief to even realize where he was anymore. After Methos had been in the hot water for an hour, Kronos helped him out of the tub, wrapped him up in a towel, picked up Alexa's perfume bottle off the counter, spritzed him a couple of times and helped Methos into the bedroom where Kronos laid him down on the bed and left him there. Kronos went into the kitchen, boiled some water and when he was certain Methos wasn't watching, he reached into his pocket and took out a small orange bottle. From the bottle he removed four sleeping tablets and emptied their powder into a cup of tea and took it back into the bedroom. If there was one thing he was certain of now, it was that Methos was going to sleep tonight whether he liked it or not.

He returned to the bedroom and found Methos still on the bed looking up at the ceiling, not having moved a muscle from where Kronos had left him. Kronos sat on the edge of the bed and pressed the cup against his lips.

"I don't want it," Methos weakly told him.

"Come on now, it'll help you sleep."

Methos was too tired to argue; he took the cup and drank it all. Kronos set the cup on the nightstand and drew the covers over Methos, it wouldn't take long for those pills to take effect and when they did, his brother would sleep well into the morning. He undressed and got into bed beside Methos and turned out the lights, and after a short while he too fell asleep.

* * *

When Kronos woke up the sun was already out and shining in through the windows. Methos was still asleep and Kronos almost hated to wake him up, but he wanted to get both of them out of there before anything else happened. Methos was already in a fragile enough state was it was; anymore surprises might be enough to put him over the edge. He put his hand on Methos' shoulder and shook him.

"Come on, Methos, wake up."

Methos rubbed one eye and opened them and slowly looked around the room, trying to remember where he was.

"Come on, get dressed, we're getting out of here," Kronos told him.

Methos pushed back the covers and slowly crawled out of bed and picked up a change of clothes.

"There's still a few things to pack up," Kronos said, "I'll fix us something to eat and then we'll be on our way."

Methos said nothing and only nodded as he put his clothes on.

Half an hour later everything Methos would be taking was packed and they carried everything out with them.

"We'll have to try and get a cab," Methos said.

"No problem," Kronos said, right before they both felt the quickening of another Immortal approaching, "Ah hell."

It was minor consolation to find out it was only Richie coming their way and not MacLeod. Richie all but jumped off his bike and jerked his helmet off as he walked up to them.

"What're you doing here, kid?" Kronos asked.

"I didn't come to see you," Richie said as he walked past him and up to Methos, "Methos, I was worried you'd already left."

"Almost," Methos replied as he tried to walk past him.

"Methos," Richie got in his way, "Methos you don't have to go."

Methos shook his head, "No Richie, I do have to."

"Look, I know Mac's pissed about what happened last night but that's no reason why you have to leave. Methos, that guy from the bar is dead, Joe found him last night with his neck broken, nobody else knows about what's happened, you don't have to go."

Methos smiled at the boy sadly, "It's too late for that Richie, I have to leave."

"Come on, Methos, let's get going!" Kronos told him.

Methos took a step forth but Richie stopped him.

"Methos, tell your brother that you don't want to go," Richie pleaded with him.

Methos looked him in the eyes with full sincerity and honesty in him as he answered, "I can't."

"Methos!"

Out of nowhere, Methos pulled Richie into a tight hug and said to him, "You're a good kid, Richie, even if you don't want to hear that…keep an eye on Joe for me."

"Methos, don't go…we don't want you to leave."

"I appreciate that, Richie, but this is something bigger than all of us, I have to do it," Methos told him, "Goodbye."

Methos pulled away from Richie and kept on walking away from him until he was by Kronos' side. Kronos had flagged down a cab and was throwing Methos' things in the trunk and told the driver to take them to the airport. Last night he had figured the two of them were going to have to take two planes and a boat to get to Nosara, Costa Rica, but he wasn't about to tell Methos that. Kronos closed the trunk and opened the door, they got in and left for the airport.

* * *

It took two days on two planes and another day on a boat to reach their destination. The weather in Nosara wasn't quite as nice as Bora Bora but it was still warm and remotely pleasant. By the time they reached land, Kronos was tired and Methos was a nervous wreck from the boat ride. When they came to the house where Silas and Caspian were staying, they were greeted by their brothers upon arrival. Methos had to admit though he wouldn't, that it was nice to be in the company of all his brothers once again.

For the last few days he'd felt partially outside of himself, so everything he saw and felt only seemed half genuine to him, and half like a dream. He was only slightly aware of his brothers looking him over and passing him around to one another and commenting on how he looked since the last time they saw him. The next thing he knew, they were dragging him up the stairs to the front door and into the living room. They were talking to him but he wasn't able to pay much attention to what they were saying, and he was too tired to answer them.

Caspian was the first to notice this and he asked Kronos, "Is he okay?"

"He's fine," Kronos replied, "Just worn out from all that traveling…and probably mad at me too because we had to take a boat to get here and you know how much he hates the water…is there a room where we can lay him down for a while?"

"Upstairs," Caspian told him.

Kronos helped Methos to his feet and walked with him to the hall and up the stairs where they heard Caspian from the bottom of the stairwell.

"Should we bring his stuff up?"

"I'll get it later," Kronos told him.

They came to the top of the stairs and went to the first room on the left; it looked like one that had been gotten ready for their arrival, it contained the basic furniture of a bed, a dresser, a trunk and a case of shelves on the wall, but not much else. Kronos pushed Methos down on the bed and drew the top sheet over him.

"Now you go to sleep and try to relax, I'll come back later," Kronos told him.

"Okay," Methos weakly replied.

"Methos."

Through tired eyes Methos looked up at his brother to see what it was he wanted now.

"I know this is hard for you now, leaving behind everything you had…but you have to remember that you're home now. You're with your brothers where you belong, I know it's been a long time since you've had to do this, but you're here now and it's time to adapt again."

Methos slowly nodded, he knew it, he just didn't like it. Kronos straightened out the top of the sheet around Methos' chest and kissed him. When Methos closed his eyes, Kronos got up and slipped out of the room and closed the door behind him. Caspian was already waiting outside the room.

"What's wrong with him?" Caspian asked, "I mean _really_ wrong with him?"

"It's a long story," Kronos replied.

"Is he going to be alright though?"

"I don't know…I would hope that after 5,000 years he could bounce back from this too, but I wonder. I wouldn't tell Silas though, you know how fond he is of Methos, I wouldn't want to get him upset over this. And I don't want _you_ giving Methos a hard time either."

Caspian said nothing and only somberly nodded in agreement.

"Let him rest," Kronos said, "He's had a rough few last days. And while we're here," he told Caspian warningly, "I had better not find you giving him a hard time again."

* * *

Methos slept clear through the afternoon, but the things he saw in his sleep could in no way be defined as dreams, rather it was as if he was looking into his own Quickening. 5,000 years of memories came flooding down on him and he found it almost impossible to stay afloat. He remembered and he relived falling in love with Alexa, the pain that his masters caused him for so many years, the first time he made love to a woman, Kronos declaring the four of them brothers, finding Cassandra, escaping the Horsemen, fighting Kalas to stay alive, MacLeod under the influence of the Dark Quickening shoving him over the edge of a wall and threatening him in the church. He remembered the shock and disbelief that Richie expressed upon finding out that the man he knew as Adam Pierson was really the 5,000 year old man, his heart in his throat as he went before the court of the Watchers bearing one of his own journals in a vain attempt to save the life of his friend, he relived the despair when he lost the crystals that would have made Alexa Immortal, and he felt as painfully as when it had happened a few days before MacLeod sending him falling back against the table in the bar when he found out that Methos was one of the Four Horsemen.

The strength of his memories kept him trapped in them and unable to wake himself from the never ending nightmare. It was only when Kronos came into the room and grabbed Methos and shook him violently that Methos was able to separate what he was only seeing and what was really before him.

"Are you alright?" Kronos asked.

"I suppose so. What time is it?" he asked as he lay back against the pillows.

"Late," Kronos replied, "You slept all day."

"Feels like it," Methos said.

"I thought you'd prefer eating up here for the first night," Kronos told him as he set a metal tray down by him on the bed.

Methos picked up the plate and picked at his food as he tried to think things over.

"I'm sorry about earlier," he said, "I've just felt awful all day."

"It's alright, they understand," Kronos told him, "They're just glad you're here now."

"I think I'm taking a liking to the place myself," Methos replied, "Kronos…we made the right decision in leaving when we did, didn't we?"

"Of course we did, you know it as well as I do."

Methos nodded in agreement but he wasn't completely sure.

* * *

That night when they turned in, Kronos had decided to give Methos some room to breathe so took to his own room for the night, and was on the verge of falling asleep when he heard somebody knocking on the door.

"Kronos, are you awake?"

It was Caspian.

Reluctantly, Kronos opened his eyes and pulled himself up into a sitting position, "Well I'm awake now, what do you want?"

"I can't sleep, I have a problem."

Oh brother.

"What sort of problem?"

The door opened and Caspian walked in dragging Methos behind him.

"This!" he answered as he pointed to Methos, "He won't let me sleep."

"I should've guessed," Kronos said as he pulled down the covers on the other side of the bed, "Put him in with me, I'll keep an eye on him."

Caspian walked over to the other side of the bed and shoved Methos onto it and headed back out the door, closing it behind him.

Kronos folded his arms and looked at Methos, "Well…"

"Sorry, Kronos."

"Oh well…what happened?"

"I just couldn't sleep."

"And you decided if you weren't going to sleep tonight, neither would Caspian, is that right?"

Methos glanced down as he answered, "About that."

"Think you can sleep now?" Kronos asked.

"I'll try," Methos answered.

"Good," Kronos replied as he drew the covers up on Methos, "Now go to bed."

Methos slept that night but not peacefully; his dreams were plagued by more buried memories of his life, the ones that he pushed the hardest to forget. They all came back at him now and by the time morning came it was hard for him to wake up because he didn't know where the dreams stopped and reality came back in again. When he finally woke up and realized that at the moment he was out of trouble with everyone around him, he was able to breathe again and tried to relax.

* * *

Later that morning, Caspian and Methos went for a walk around the property and wound up down at the shore where the tide was washing in. Methos parked himself in the sand with his feet in the first shallow inches of water as the tide swept in over them.

"It's rather nice out here," he said.

"Well," Caspian said as he sat down beside Methos, "We've certainly done worse in our times."

Methos nodded, "It's been a while since I've been out this way…I've forgotten how nice it gets here."

"So what've you been up to the past century?" Caspian asked.

"It's a long story, I'm not even sure if it's worth telling. What about you?"

"Oh," Caspian replied rather amusedly, "I've found a few things to keep my mind occupied."

"Like taxidermy," Methos said, "I saw that stuffed porcupine in the living room."

"So what exactly brought you out here after a hundred years?" Caspian asked.

"I don't know, I guess the timing was right."

"And for a hundred years it wasn't?"

He was never going to hear the end of this, was he?

"I should have come sooner, I'm sorry," he said.

"Oh well… it doesn't matter now," Caspian replied, "It's just good to see you again."

Methos nodded in agreement though he didn't entirely feel the same way. He was torn between being relieved to be 10,000 miles away from MacLeod and at the same time he felt as though he'd made a big mistake in leaving, at least as soon as he had. It had become a rule when something went wrong to get the hell out so he stood good chance at staying alive, now he was starting to think he should have stayed behind and taken his kicks in facing MacLeod.

Through the rest of the day Methos tried to behave as though everything were all normal, but he was only half responding to everything and everybody around him, while the other half of him was thousands of miles away from himself, trying to figure out if he'd made a mistake in coming here.

* * *

That night Kronos was awaked by the screaming coming from Methos' room. He was the first one into the room and found Methos thrashing around on the bed, still asleep. He tried to wake Methos up but instead found himself knocked to the floor with his brother on top of him, still stuck in the nightmare. Caspian came in and jumped on Methos, pulling him off of Kronos. Both men tried to pin Methos down against the floor but whatever it was that he was facing in his nightmare was too terrifying for him to give up the fight, and he managed to break away from both of them.

Kronos grabbed him and threw his own weight against Methos and tried to keep him down, Caspian disappeared from the room and returned a minute later with a syringe that he injected the contents directly into Methos' neck. Methos screamed like a wounded beast and suddenly he lost the fight in him.

"What the hell was that?" Kronos asked Caspian.

"A sedative, what the hell was _that?_"

"I don't know," Kronos replied, "Help me get him back into bed."

"I don't know why," Caspian said, "We can save a lot of trouble just leaving him on the floor."

Silas stood in the bedroom doorway and looked at the sight before him. "What happened here?" he asked.

"I don't know," Kronos replied, "How long is that sedative supposed to work?"

"Until morning," Caspian answered.

"I'll stay with him incase it starts again," Kronos said.

"I'll stay with him," Silas told Kronos, "Go back to your room."

Kronos looked from Methos to Silas, "Are you sure?"

Silas walked over to the bed and gave Kronos a shove to get the point across. Kronos left less than willingly, he looked back to Methos and hoped that whatever was wrong had passed. Nightmares certainly weren't anything new for Methos but this was getting ridiculous, even for _him_.

* * *

Methos slept through the rest of the night somewhat peacefully. Caspian relieved Silas of watching him and saw that Methos seemed to be having another nightmare. He lay on his back with his hands and feet up in the air like a dog, and Caspian got a humorous idea to turn him over on the floor on his hands and feet to see if he'd run like a dog. Caspian went over to the bed and carefully grabbed Methos so as not to wake him up and started turning him over when Kronos came into the room.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Caspian returned Methos to the position he was originally in and pounded the pillow behind his head. "Just making sure he's comfortable."

"So how was he last night?" Kronos asked.

"He was fine, Silas said he never made a sound."

Kronos sighed as he walked over to the bed and looked at Methos. "And to think a week ago I complained he was too lethargic. I haven't seen anything put up that much of a fight since a mountain lion tried to tear me apart. I wonder what's wrong with him."

"Did anything happen before you came here that might be triggering this?" Caspian asked.

"…maybe," Kronos answered, "I don't know. I thought by now Methos would be past this."

When Methos woke up an hour later, he had no recollection of what had happened the night before and when they told him what he had done, he was horrified. Kronos tried to assure him it wasn't anything new, saying to him, "We've certainly been through worse times than this, don't you remember?"

Remember, that was the problem, he was remembering so much all of a sudden and that's what was causing these problems for him. He wouldn't tell them that though because he didn't want them to think that he was finally starting to lose his mind after 5,000 years.

* * *

That night Methos had gone to bed praying that he wouldn't have another nightmare. Little good it did him though because not too long after he'd gone to sleep, another one started; the only difference was that this one was not all pieces of his memory. He felt himself stuck in the middle of a whirlwind surrounded by darkness, he saw nobody but he heard plenty, he heard himself, he heard Kronos, he heard MacLeod, he heard Cassandra, and the more they talked the faster it seemed he was spinning.

"_MacLeod, is that you?"_

"_Greetings, Brother."_

"_Kronos!"_

"_I missed you too."_

"_Don't you understand!? I'm not like that anymore, I've changed."_

"_But inside you're still there, Methos, you're like me."_

"_Draw your sword."_

"_MacLeod, who is she?"_

"_Cassandra what're you doing?"  
_

"_Do you think I could EVER forget you?"_

"_Then you die."_

"_No, no wait!"_

"_I am Methos, you live to serve me, never forget that."_

"_Lay it down, Caspian!"_

"_Why should I?"_

"_If I have to lose one, it WILL be you."_

"_Kronos."_

"_Problems?"_

"_Not anymore."_

"_Well there's one way to make sure."_

"_I will kill you as many times as it takes."_

"_This is between you and me, Methos!"_

"_Is what she said true? Did you kill all those people?"_

"_Yes, is that what you wanted to hear?"_

"_It's enough."_

"_No! It's not enough! I killed, but I didn't just kill 50, I didn't kill 100, I killed 1000, I killed 10,000! And I was good at it!"_

"_We're through!"  
_

Methos woke up screaming and he shot up in bed with enough force that he fell out of bed and collided with the nightstand and fell on the floor.

The light came on and Kronos was immediately in the room and picking Methos up off the floor.

"What happened?"

Methos looked up at his brother and suddenly remembered where he was, and he struggled to calm down.

"I'm sorry, Kronos, I had another nightmare."

"Are you alright?"

"I think so," Methos replied as he got back into bed.

"Kronos," Silas appeared in the doorway, "What's going on?"

"Nothing, it's over," Kronos said.

"I'm sorry I got you up again, Silas," Methos told him, "Kronos, why don't you go back to bed?"

"Go ahead, Kronos," Silas said as he came into the room, "I'll stay with him until he goes to sleep."

Kronos wasn't sure about it but he agreed. After he had gone, Methos called Silas over to the bed.

"There's something I wanted to tell you and I didn't want Kronos to hear," Methos said, "Come closer and I'll tell you."

Silas leaned down so Methos could say what he had to right in his ear, and after he did, Silas turned and looked at him with wide eyes full of shock and disbelief.

After Methos had gone to bed, Silas slipped out of the room and over to Caspian's. The noise hadn't woken him up earlier and he still lay in bed in a dead sleep. Silas closed the door behind him and went over to the bed and woke him up.

"What's going on?" Caspian asked.

"Get up, we've got a problem," Silas told him, "It's Methos."

To Caspian that was no cause for alarm and he showed no effort to get up too quickly.

"What's he done now?" Caspian asked.

Silas told him and Caspian's reaction was almost identical to what Silas's had been. Immediately Caspian sprang out of bed and headed toward the door but Silas jerked him back.

"Tell me," Caspian said, "You didn't tell Kronos about this, did you?"

"Of course I didn't tell him," Silas replied, "You know how he'd take it and we don't need him going through the roof now."

Caspian fell back on the bed, "What in the hell would possess Methos to even think such a thing?"

"I don't know," Silas said, "But I don't like it."

Caspian was trying to think. "Is Methos asleep now?"

"Yes."

"No sense in waking him up again tonight," Caspian said, "Tomorrow I'll see if I can get any answers out of him."

"But what about Kronos?" Silas asked.

Caspian reached into his nightstand and pulled out a syringe and two bottles of injectable tranquilizers, "We won't have to worry about him interfering tomorrow."

* * *

The next morning when Methos woke up, Caspian was already in the room waiting for him to come around.

"What's going on?" Methos asked.

"Silas told me about what happened last night," Caspian said, "He told me what you said to him."

Methos' eyes became wide as he realized what Caspian had just said.

"Does Kronos know?"

"No, he doesn't know, that's what I wanted to see you about…I can't for the life of me figure out what's gotten into you. Methos, what is going on?"

Now that Methos realized his cover was blown and they knew what was going on, he worried what was to come next, and he felt himself start to pull away from his body again.

"I can't say."

"Why not?"

"I can't say," Methos said, only half aware now of what he was doing, "He'll never forgive me."

"Who won't? Kronos? Kronos isn't here, Methos, he can't see us, he can't hear us, I've already taken care of that. Now tell me," Caspian went over to the bed and pinned Methos on his back to look him in the eyes, "Tell me what's the matter with you. Tell me why you asked Silas to take your head."


	12. Chapter 12

After getting the long and sordid story out of Methos, Caspian gave him another sedative so he could calm down and sleep off his hysterics. Then Caspian headed down to Kronos' room where he was just coming out of the doubled-dose sedation he'd been given. He was still groggy and his head was still spinning.

"What time is it?" he asked, "How long have I been asleep?"

Caspian looked at the clock on the stand by the bed. Kronos turned it around and saw it was past 11 in the morning.

"What happened?" he asked, "What's going on?"

Caspian closed the door behind him and walked over to the bed. "There's something I think you should know about Methos."

"What's he done now?" Kronos asked.

"Not now, last night," Caspian said, "After his nightmare and you had gone, he told Silas that he didn't want what had happened to become a recurring problem. He said he didn't want to get any worse and he asked Silas if he did, to take his head."

It took Kronos a minute to realize what Caspian had said, and when he did, he nearly hit the ceiling. He felt his teeth clenching together and he was starting to see red as he responded, "_Not_ my little brother!"

"Yes, _Methos_, there's something wrong with him," Caspian said, "We were surprised as well when we found out."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Kronos asked.

"I couldn't, I had to figure out why if Methos was going to kill himself he'd ask Silas of all people to do it instead of you. I think I figured out why."

"What reason could there possibly be?"

"Methos knows that you're not going to let him go, it wouldn't matter how bad he got you would never take his head, no matter what you might have told him before. Silas has always been loyal to Methos more than the rest of us, he knew if Methos got worse and was suffering, he wouldn't be able to let Methos live in agony. You care too much about Methos to let him go, Silas is too loyal to let him live in pain if he crosses that line. Once I was able to figure that out I had to find out just _why_ Methos would even want any of us to have that responsibility. He's fought to the end of him to stay alive as long as he has, it doesn't make sense that he'd just decide to end that now," Caspian explained.

Kronos shook his head, it didn't sound like his brother at all.

"I've spent the last three hours talking with him trying to figure out what's wrong," Caspian said, "Once he started talking it all came pouring out and I don't know if there even is a place to begin. For a large part of it his nightmares seemed to be old memories resurfacing…you know how he's always said he doesn't remember anything before his first Quickening?"

"Yes."

"Night before last it all came crashing down on him, he started to remember it all again. But those were memories best left buried because the only thing they brought him was pain and torment."

"So why did he remember them all of a sudden?"

"I don't think he ever lost those memories, I think he just subconsciously forced them to the back of his mind so he wouldn't have to think of them. Wishful thinking, he tried to block them out, he tried to make himself forget them so he wouldn't have to remember the pain. But you know just as well as I do that things left in the subconscious can only stay there for so long, they're like sharks, they can stay down near the bottom for a long time but eventually they're going to come up to the top again."

"Methos had to know that as well," Kronos said.

"He tried not to think about it…he had hoped that those memories were truly lost and he wouldn't have to deal with them again," Caspian explained, "Have you ever tried that? Have you ever tried to bury something you never wanted to think about again? It can only stay away for so long, and especially living as long as we do, they'll come back eventually. When it finally came back to Methos it had been so long he didn't know what had happened."

"But why now of all times?" Kronos asked, "If they hadn't come up for 5,000 years, why would they now?"

"That's what I wanted to know…now we all remember fairly well the kind of lives we led back then, don't you agree?"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"It took a long time to break the patterns we became accustomed to when we were owned, didn't it?" Caspian asked, "Methos has probably tried the hardest to change from what he was but something from those days remains in him no matter how much he tries to hide or get away from it."

"What's that?" Kronos asked.

"His whole life until we found him, he was a slave, he lived to please his masters, he lived in fear of upsetting them because he wanted to stay alive and he didn't want to be beaten anymore than he had to be…when we found him that fear transferred from the master to you because you were the leader and he still worried what might happen if he did something to upset you. Even now he's worried about upsetting you, Kronos, can't you see that? And that's not all…he was telling me about what happened before you came here."

"With MacLeod?"

"From what he told me of MacLeod, he sounds rather like you."

The look on Kronos' face would at any other time be viewed as hysterical, "I am _nothing_ like that bastard."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that right offhand," Caspian replied, "You two might not think alike but you sure as hell act a lot alike from what Methos told me. MacLeod always thinks only _he_ is right, you're the same way. MacLeod acts as judge, juror and executioner of everybody he encounters who he doesn't like, it goes without saying how that comes back to you."

"Except that MacLeod is none too bright in any regard."

"Another match," Caspian said.

Kronos stared daggers into Caspian when he heard that.

"In another regard, you consider Methos' life to be something worth fighting for to the death…and from what he told me, it seems MacLeod had come to the same decision when Kalas came looking for him."

Kronos still wasn't convinced yet, "What else?"

"You were the first person Methos could trust with his life, after he left you he spent 2,000 years watching his back everywhere he went, then out of nowhere comes MacLeod, and Methos sticks his neck out because he knows MacLeod's not going to kill him. Methos trusts him as much as he trusts you."

"Or _did_," Kronos replied, "Methos was absolutely terrified that MacLeod would find out about all his dirty little secrets."

"Which is how he got into this mess in the first place," Caspian said, "He never trusted anybody enough to tell them about his own life and when MacLeod figured him out, Methos started worrying that the things he had done thousands of years ago would come out into the open. Then he'd be left to face judgment. That's how all those buried memories of his came to surface again; for thousands of years he had no reason to think about them because nobody was ever going to find him out. But then when he met MacLeod, he stepped on thin ice for it and he was worried it was going to break underneath him."

"I still don't get it," Kronos said, "Why in the hell would it matter to Methos what that bastard thought about him?"

"For the same reason it matters to Methos what _you_ think of him. Even now he couldn't tell you what was wrong because he was worried about upsetting you, and he didn't want you angry at him again. It doesn't matter how long he's lived, what he becomes or what he does, that mentality stays with him that if he's going to stay out of trouble, he has to go to great lengths to make sure he doesn't upset the people most important to him because he doesn't want to have to face the consequences. It was easier for him to tell MacLeod what he was, than it would be for him to tell you why he was acting the way he was. MacLeod found out and the worst he could do was what he did…but if you found out something about him that you didn't want to know…what you could do to him to make him suffer is far worse than anything that highlander could."

"Maybe so but it still doesn't make any sense," Kronos said, "After all this time why would that still matter to him? None of us is the same person we were 4,000 years ago."

"It matters to him because he doesn't want to die but there's little point to him in living alone considering how long he's had to do it. He has a hard time getting attached to mortals because their time is as limited as it is but it's even harder for him to become attached to an Immortal because of the never ending fear they'll one day turn on him and try for his head. You're the only sure thing he has anymore and even that he's walking on eggshells for because he's afraid of how you'll react if you find out something about him that you don't want to know," Caspian told him, "And if you were to turn against him, no matter what we said he would leave because the last thing he wants is a war to break out between _us_. Don't you get it, Kronos? Everything he does, everybody he manipulates, it's not for his own gain, he's just doing it to keep you happy because that's the one thing he knows he can fall back on."

Well that certainly had Kronos feeling like a heel.

"Where is he?"

"He's in bed, don't disturb him," Caspian warned him, "Right now he's in a very fragile state and if anything else comes up this soon to surprise him, he may very well go right over the edge. Right now his main priority seems to make sure that no matter what's happening to him, it's not an inconvenience or a burden to you."

"Oh, so this is my fault?"

"Well you're sure not helping any," Caspian told him, "I would advise you to give him room to breathe but be careful that you don't distance yourself from him too much either. If he finds out, or even suspects that you know what I've told you, he's going to be scared to death that it's just a matter of time before you get rid of him."

"And what about his nightmares?" Kronos asked.

"When they first started he wasn't aware of what was going on because he's kept those memories corked up in him for all these years. Maybe now that his subconscious has been brought to light and he knows what's going on and what's causing his nightmares, maybe now they'll stop, if not, at least he knows that he's not losing his mind as he was worried originally was the case."

"There's one more thing I don't get," Kronos said, "Methos seemed very partial to what MacLeod thought of him, but he had two other friends back there, an old man and a kid, and from what I saw of them they seemed more like the people he'd be friends with…and yet he never said one word about if they found out about what he'd done."

"He mentioned that," Caspian said, "The old man he's known for over 10 years, he never told the guy who he really was, it was MacLeod that blew the whistle on him there."

"And yet he wasn't as worried about the old man, why is that?" Kronos asked.

Caspian shrugged, "Perhaps he understands the complexity of human morale better than that 400 year old Scottish prude with the needle up his ass. He was in a war, he at least is aware that there exist far more than just good and evil in people, a concept that this MacLeod has yet to grasp in his time. My guess is Methos knew that the old man wouldn't jump to any conclusions about it because he himself has been no saint in his time."

"And the kid?"

Caspian laughed, "He's a kid, that one should be self explanatory, you have to live a long time in a _very_ sheltered life to be as simpleminded as MacLeod is."

Kronos nodded in understanding and just as Caspian started to walk off, Kronos grabbed him by the back of his jacket and jerked him back.

"One more thing I want to know," Kronos said, "How in the hell did you figure all of that out?"

With a knowing smirk that crept from ear to ear on his face, Caspian turned back around and said, "Do you know anything about Bedlam, Kronos? I spent 60 years going into and coming out of insane asylums where the staff was fruitier than the patients. Not a single bastard in any establishment had any idea what in the hell they were doing and I was sick to death of getting 200 volt shocks every hour on the hour every day and being dragged out into the snow at night, naked as the day I was born having buckets of ice water thrown on me. It got so tired that finally I cured myself just for the sake of getting out of there and never going back. After an experience like that, I picked up a few things in the head shrinking racket."

Kronos didn't know what to say. He just couldn't believe that Methos would even entertain the notion of laying down his sword and offering his head to somebody. He was just grateful that if it had to happen, Methos asked one of his brothers to do it and not that bastard, MacLeod. Suddenly, Kronos wasn't feeling very well and he needed to lie down again; this sudden revelation was just making him absolutely sick.

* * *

The rain came later that morning, and it continued long into the afternoon. During that time Methos never woke up and hardly even moved. Kronos walked into the room and knelt down by the bed and watched his brother as he slept. Looking at Methos now, asleep, in something resembling peace, he looked just as young as he did over 4,000 years ago. For a long time he had looked much older; it never truly showed but Kronos knew it was there.

He had remembered Caspian's warning, but what was he going to do? For that matter, what was he supposed to do? Keep a distance from Methos but not so much a distance that he noticed, how in the hell was Kronos supposed to do that?

"Come on, Methos, wake up."

Methos turned over and opened one eye, then the other. He saw Kronos staring at him and he tiredly smiled in response, "Hi, Kronos."

"Did you sleep well?"

Methos nodded and asked, "What time is it?"

"Four in the afternoon."

Methos' eyes opened wide when he heard that and he tried to get up but he wound up collapsing back against the mattress.

"I must've really been out of it today," he said.

"How're you feeling?" Kronos asked as he climbed onto the bed beside Methos.

"I'm okay…I'm sorry about last night."

"It's alright, Methos."

"And I'm _really_ sorry about the night before last."

Kronos laughed, "Don't worry about it, it's al behind us now."

"I sincerely hope so, I hope that doesn't start up again tonight."

"Oh I don't think it will."

"I'm just sorry about everything," Methos said, "I know I've caused a lot of trouble for you with everything that's happened recently."

Kronos started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Methos asked.

"Nothing, it's just that you look kind of cute when you're worried," Kronos answered.

Methos glared at him for a moment or two and then he started laughing as well.

* * *

That night after things had started to get back to normal and everybody had calmed down, Caspian looked in on Methos and he saw his brother curled up on his side, asleep. He was about to head to his own room when he heard Methos call him. He stuck his head back in the doorway and said, "What is it?"

Methos sat up in bed and said, "There's something I want to ask you."

Caspian stepped into the room and went over to the bed, "What is it?"

"Where were you in the war?"

"What war?"

"World War II."

"Which part of the war?"

"Well…where were you when the bomb dropped? I mean were you in it?"

"Which bomb?"

"Which bomb?" Methos repeated, "What do you mean which bomb?"

"I survived having everything fall on me from M30s to Blockbusters to Grand Slams. Which bomb are you referring to?"

"The atomic bomb."

Caspian thought about it for a moment as he recalled those days. "Well I was close enough to it to be burnt to a crispy cinder."

"I was just thinking," Methos said, "I was there when the bomb dropped too…you know, Caspian, when we first met 4,000 years ago, I was scared of the people who owned me, more so than people in general. As time went by, I came to fear people _much_ less because I knew what they were capable of doing, and most of it was nothing short of mortifying, they could do very little to us that would cause any damage close to what we could do to ourselves. But when the bomb dropped on us and I saw what it could do, I realized that mankind for the first time in 6,000 years really possessed the will and the knowledge and power to destroy the entire world. Now, now things are even worse, now there are nuclear weapons of mass destruction beyond anything we ever anticipated. Missiles and warheads buried in the ground somewhere, all some nut has to do is punch in a few numbers and the whole world goes flying in a million pieces in different directions. And now, things are worse for people like us in the fact that people, Watchers and Hunters, are aware that we exist and what we are and both groups have a bunch of sadists in them who would love nothing more than to strap us down on a gurney and cut us open to see what makes us tick and rip it out. The whole thing scares me, more than it probably should, but I just can't get over it. They always said mankind was the most intelligent of all beasts, but if this is intelligence, I don't want any part of it."

"Well I'm over 4000 years old and if there's one thing I've never in my whole life heard, it's that intelligence is a good thing," Caspian replied.

Methos laughed as he turned over on his side, "I tell you, I thought hell would freeze over before I'd ever see this day again, the four of us back together."

"It couldn't have been _that_ hard to imagine," Caspian said as he climbed into bed alongside Methos.

"Oh yes it was, I still remember before I left the first time, you remember when Kronos and I were always at each other's throats."

"No I don't, most of them occurred _after_ Kronos choked me to death. Ooh he was a moody son of a bitch back then, wasn't he?"

"You don't know the half of it. I remember one of the first real arguments we had, I don't know what I said to him but I remember what he said to me. He said, "so this is the thanks I get for pulling you out of the river a thousand years ago. I should've let you drown, you'd probably still be at the bottom of the river by now. You think you would have survived this long if it hadn't been for you? You would've died without me, and maybe that's the way I should've left you. You can't survive without me, you never could." Then he knocked me down and started strangling me, Silas came up and pulled him off of me and I took off. I didn't come back for two days, you have to remember that."

"Vaguely."

"Kronos always knew _just_ how to hurt me, I knew that from the time he decided to keep me. I never would've treated him like that for anything he'd done," Methos laughed grimly, "Oh no, I hurt him the only way I knew how, I left. And from that day, I had always hoped I'd have a second chance to meet with him again and to set things right, but I never figured he could change."

"Well," Caspian said, "It worked."

Methos groaned as he recalled something else from thousands of years ago.

"And _you_," he said, "You were a horrible bastard back then."

Caspian laughed once and said, "I suppose I was."

"Suppose you were? Hardly a day went by you didn't try to drown me," Methos reminded him, "You downright hated me."

"And look at us now," Caspian replied.

Methos nodded, "I suppose it's true what they say about time and wounds. I just never figured it would work for us."

Caspian could see Methos was growing more lethargic with every passing moment. He couldn't blame Methos; after all it had been a very exhausting day for him. He pulled up the covers and slipped out of the bed and out of the room, and met with Kronos, who stood around the corner and had heard every word of their conversation.

"Well?" Caspian asked.

"Well…" Kronos replied, "I sure feel like an ass."

"I'm sure he didn't know you were listening," Caspian said to him.

"I _still_ feel like an ass…why did I ever say that to him?"

"You probably didn't anticipate he'd live long enough to remember it," Caspian said.

"Do you think he'll get any better?" Kronos asked.

Caspian took a step back at that. "I think he's already made a lot of progress for one day. About all we can do for the time being is keep an eye on him and watch for any drastic changes in his behavior. If that happens, then we'll figure out what to do when the time comes."

Kronos nodded, he hoped against all hope that Methos wouldn't get any worse, but he couldn't be too sure of anything right now.

* * *

That night, Kronos wouldn't leave Methos' side and the two wound up sleeping together again. Kronos was dead to the world in an undisturbed sleep, but Methos was lost in another nightmare. Once again he felt himself spinning and he saw little but heard plenty.

"_Why did you stop the fight? Are you afraid of me losing, or him?"_

"_It could've gone either way, I couldn't take the chance."_

"_Perhaps I should kill you now to be sure."_

"_Do that and you'll never have the Four Horsemen."_

"_You're lying."_

"_I can take you to them."_

"_Then you live."_

"_It's been over a thousand years. If he doesn't want to come?"_

"_He'll come, or he'll die."_

"_You're crazy, you should've been in the madhouse instead of me."_

"_Keep talking, I'll send you back there without your head!"_

"_He will destroy half the world and rule whatever's left."_

"_Oh we will rule!"_

"_Why do you think I didn't tell you? I knew how you'd react."_

"_Don't do this, you have a choice."_

"_We think alike, we always have."_

"_I doubt that, Kronos, nobody thinks quite like you."_

"_I know you better than you know yourself. You can't outthink me, you can't out fight me and you sure as hell can't kill me."_

"_You're sure of that, are you?"_

"_If that were me, I'd want you dead."_

"_Did you send Caspian or Silas?"_

"_Both."_

"_I know what I am now."_

"_You forgot what I was."_

"_I forgot nothing! I'll take your head with my bare hands, you then Kronos."_

"_Then you'll die, and you can forget about MacLeod, MacLeod's dead."_

"_You set me up."_

"_He's the master."_

"_You don't know anything about me."_

"_You still don't get it, do you? I AM THE END OF TIME!"_

"_I killed Silas! I liked Silas!"_

That was the point in which Methos woke up as he suddenly felt himself falling. He was disoriented and had a taste of acid rising in his throat and he was certain he was going to be sick. Kronos woke up and sat up alongside him.

"What's the matter?"

Realizing where he was, Methos began to calm down.

"Nothing."

"Oh really?"

Kronos reached down Methos' shirt and felt his racing heartbeat.

"Another nightmare?"

Methos nodded.

"What was it this time?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Methos said as he moved to get up.

"Oh no you don't," Kronos grabbed the back of Methos' shirt and pulled him back down, "You're not slithering away that easily, come on, tell me."

Methos dropped his gaze to the mattress beneath them as he answered, "There isn't really much to tell…I didn't see anything, I heard plenty, it felt like I was going in circles, and then I felt the ground drop from underneath me and that's when I woke up."

Kronos grabbed Methos by his waist and pulled him over to the other side of the bed.

"It's alright, it's over now."

"I know," Methos said, "But God, it felt so real."

"They always do," Kronos replied, "It's alright now, go back to sleep."

"I'll try," Methos told him.

Kronos felt Methos turn over on his side and he hoped that would be the end of that, but he knew it wouldn't be. Sure enough, a few minutes later from below him, he heard a low voice, "Kronos?"

"What?"

"Do you ever wonder why you've lived as long as you have?"

"You mean rather what did I do that was so horrible I haven't died yet?"

Methos nodded.

"I used to."

"Ever figure it out?" Methos asked.

"Not quite, met somebody who had an interesting theory once," Kronos said, "God takes away the people too good to keep, and He leaves the people too horrible to take."

Methos laughed once and said, "Don't know that I agree with that."

"Neither do I but it's the best theory I've heard yet," Kronos replied.

"I just wonder," Methos said, "Why I haven't died yet…I hardly think anything I've done can justify my living as long as I have."

"Don't worry," Kronos told him, "You'll figure it out someday, and when that day comes, I'm going to be with you."

Methos liked the sound of that, "You're sure of that are you?"

"As long as it took me to find you," Kronos said, "I'm never letting you out of my sight again."

_Oh yes you will,_ Methos thought, _you just won't see it coming._

* * *

The next evening Methos found himself practically drowning in a tub large enough for three people, full of hot water staring up at the ceiling. He had hoped he'd be able to relax but the hot water bursting out of the whirlpool jets were just making him sick to his stomach. He was trying to find some explanation to the way his life had been going and all the sudden changes that had occurred in the last few days but he was coming up empty. Why had Kronos come back into his life when he did? Why did the Watchers have to find out who and what he was? Why did it have to happen when he was still in Seacouver? And what was going to happen now?

"Don't fall asleep, you'll drown."

Methos opened his eyes and pulled himself up in the tub and saw Kronos standing by the door.

"Mind if I join you?"

Methos shook his head. Kronos undressed and slipped in beside him.

"You've been quiet today, rather distant almost, how're you feeling?" Kronos asked.

"Nauseous."

"I'm not surprised," Kronos said as he turned on the cold water tap, "Sometimes I think you're intentionally trying to cook yourself."

Methos closed his eyes and lightly groaned as he turned on his side, "I'm trying to relax is what I'm doing."

"So go ahead and relax, I'll make sure you don't slip under the water," Kronos replied.

Taking in a large breath, Methos lay his head against the tub's edge and tried to rest. He had tried not to let it be obvious to his brothers that anything was the matter, but he was only fooling himself, they could see it clear as day, they just didn't know what it was. Methos knew that he was putting them all through a lot more than any of them deserved, Kronos especially. Early that morning when the two of them were still in bed, Methos asked Kronos, "As long as you've lived and all the things you've done, do you think there's anything that somebody could do that would be too horrible for you to forgive?"

Kronos seemed to consider it for a moment before answering very bluntly, "No."

In that moment, Kronos knew that there was something that his brother was just dying to confess and ask forgiveness for, but he couldn't bring himself to say what it was. All Methos said in response was, "I don't know if I can believe that."

Kronos tried to be light about it and not sound so serious so maybe Methos would feel safer telling him what was the matter. "Why?" he asked, "What've you done that's so awful?"

Methos shook his head, "That's the one thing I can't tell you."

"Methos," Kronos said as he forced his brother to meet his eyes, "You should know by now that there's nothing you could ever do that would be that horrible. Don't forget, I already know most of your dirty little secrets, as a matter of fact I stood by you when most of them occurred."

"I remember," Methos replied, "I'm just worried that what I have to say is worse than anything you might be prepared for."

"Methos, it can't be that bad."

How was Methos supposed to tell Kronos that he was starting to regret coming out here with them? That he wanted to go back to Seacouver, to Joe and Richie, even MacLeod if MacLeod would have him after that scene at the bar. That something about being here with his brothers felt off, how was he supposed to explain that to Kronos? That was one thing that no matter what Kronos said or what he might be anticipating, he could never forgive, and Methos knew it.

"You don't have to tell me now," Kronos said, "But it's not good and you can't tell me it's easy _not_ to tell me. Sooner or later you've got to talk and when that time comes I'm going to be right there to prove that it's not as bad as you think."

All of a sudden, Methos couldn't take it anymore. He opened his eyes and immediately struggled with Kronos to get out of the tub. In the process he about drowned them both and when he finally got out, Kronos was right behind him, he grabbed a towel off the rack and wrapped Methos up in it.

"Now calm down," Kronos started to say, but Methos cut him off.

"Kronos, I don't regret coming out here with you, and I'm not sorry that the four of us are back together again," Methos said, "I've missed it, it's what I've dreamt of every night for 2,000 years, but…" this was the moment of truth, "Something's wrong, I don't know what it is, but I just can't shake off the feeling that something horrible is about to happen and that we made a dire mistake leaving Seacouver and coming here when we did."


	13. Chapter 13

Into the early hours of the morning, the two sat awake in the kitchen and over two glasses of cold bourbon, tried to figure out what was going on.

"You really thought that I'd consider this the worst thing you've ever done?" Kronos asked.

"All I know is that after being married 67 times and having to raise near 200 kids, it's only easy to say you can forgive anything somebody's done when you don't know that they've done it yet. When you find out they have, it's not so easy, and you sounded too sure of yourself."

"Well," Kronos said, "Now that we've gotten this much out of the way, why don't you run by me again exactly what it is with you and going back there."

"I've been running it over in my mind again and again since we got on the first plane," Methos said, "The fight was over too quickly, you break one guy's neck and the threat's diminished. It doesn't make sense, at least not to me. When the Watchers had Joe on trial, it wasn't just one or two of them responsible, it was a whole group of them…I was at one of the meetings after he'd…escaped execution. I felt awful…"

"Because they wanted you to report finding him," Kronos guessed.

"It was more than that, I've played dual roles many times before in my life, I'm old as dirt, I act young, I live as an Immortal, I play not only a mortal but a Watcher, the two are never to mix…but at that meeting, standing alongside all those other Watchers who were taking direct orders…I felt…"

"Like the Jew who lived as a Nazi," Kronos answered for him, "And in truth, it really hasn't come much farther than that…kill this breed of people because they're different in a way they have no control over…kill anybody associated with them, they might be traitors. The length of Nazi Germany seems to be spreading rapidly."

"And what more," Methos replied, "I'm still trying to figure out how Meltzer ever found out I was Immortal. His father didn't know, at least I don't think he did, and I sure as hell don't think he ever told his son any of his discoveries."

"So you think there's somebody else involved."

"By this time it could be a lot of people," Methos said.

"Who else then?" Kronos asked.

"I don't know," Methos shook his head in despair, "That's what I've been trying to figure out."

"Alright, calm down, there's no sense getting all worked up over it when you're too far away to do anything about it."

"It just seems like something the Watchers _would_ pull, not necessarily the Hunters…they would've just tried to kill me, but the Watchers, oh no they just want to string me along and torture me as long as possible. It's just like…them…"

At that moment Methos seemed to zone out in some kind of realization.

"Uh oh," Kronos said, "You've got that look again, what's going through your mind now?"

Methos came back and looked to Kronos, "Almost _too much_ like the Watchers…"

"I don't follow."

"Kronos…when you said that you…you went to Germany during the war, you posed as one of the Nazis, but did you think you were as convincing as the real thing?"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"Just answer the question."

"Well…I was good but I didn't want to take any chances, that's why I killed the ones I encountered as quickly as I could before they had a chance to catch on," Kronos explained.

"You think if a real Nazi had turned traitor on the others they would've killed the others the same way you did?" Methos asked.

"I'm not sure…they weren't exactly the sort of people I wanted to stick around too long with…but one of their own, if they decided to turn on the rest, they probably could've done it more convincingly than I did, I don't know about better."

"Exactly," Methos said.

"What's exactly?" Kronos asked.

"Who would be the best source to find out about Immortals from?" Methos asked.

It finally hit Kronos. "Another Immortal, but who? You said that Meltzer told them about Cassandra, you think she told them?"

Methos shook his head, "If she was going to tell anybody about what we did to her, I seriously doubt it would be a Watcher."

"And besides that, she's probably not smart enough to know what one is anyway."

Methos glared at him through one eye, "How many times did you say you'd been married?"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"You should know by now the worst thing you can do is underestimate a woman's intelligence, particularly that of a woman scorned…but if Cassandra were the one responsible for this she'd do it in a more…unlikely matter, that it wouldn't be suspected of another Immortal."

"So what, we're dealing with somebody younger than her?" Kronos asked.

"Can't be…nobody younger than Cassandra, except for my friends, and Immortals who are already dead and buried…know who I really am," Methos replied.

"So then," Kronos said, the tone of his voice changing oh so slightly from neutral to ever so slightly anxious, "We're dealing with somebody who's well over 3,000 years old."

"At least," Methos answered, "I've got an idea, it might not be much of one but I've had Silas look into it."

"Look into what?"

Methos turned and saw Silas enter the kitchen with a package in his hands, "Methos, here it is."

"Here what is?" Kronos asked.

"A few days ago I had Silas pull a few strings to get us an idea of what the Watchers are involved in," Methos answered as he took the package from his brother, "Had somebody follow the Watchers and photograph _them_ to see who they're associating themselves with these days."

Methos opened the package and took out several photographs, he flipped through three of them and on the third one he stopped, and he turned whiter than he already was, and his eyes grew wide.

"What is it?" Kronos asked.

Methos started wheezing like he was hyperventilating, he backed up against the wall and fell to the floor. Kronos caught him at the last second before his head met with the wall.

"What is it, Methos, what's wrong?" Kronos asked.

Methos' eyes rolled back in his head and he closed them and passed out. Kronos took the pictures from his hand and looked at the pictures. His eyes widened slightly and he turned the slightest bit pale.

"What is it?" Silas asked.

"I know this man," Kronos said, "Oh God, Methos did too…"

* * *

Almost two weeks had come and gone since Methos left with Kronos for Costa Rica. Every day Richie and Joe met at the bar and asked each other if the other had heard anything from the old man. Every day they had to face the facts that Methos was gone and was probably not going to come back.

"I better get out of here then before Mac comes around," Richie said.

"Richie, you can't avoid him forever."

"I can try."

"Richie."

"He's made it to 400, how much longer can he live, really?"

"Now you know you don't mean that," Joe said.

"How would you know if I meant it or not?" Richie asked.

Joe started to laugh, "You'll have to try harder than that to convince me."

"Oh yeah? When was the last time _you_ talked to Mac?" Richie asked.

Joe's silence was answer enough.

"That's what I thought."

"Look Richie…"

"I didn't think Mac was this bad, you know? I know he was always a judgmental bastard but I thought that was just with me. But this…" Richie shook his head, "This is too crazy to even believe."

A moment later, Richie felt the quickening of another Immortal, and he knew who it was. Richie and Joe watched as MacLeod came through the door and up to them.

"Well look who's here," Richie said, "The man who drove the world's oldest man out of this place, and out of our lives forever."

MacLeod glared at Richie as he said that; apparently he hadn't been anticipating this confrontation with his former student.

"Knock it off, Richie…" he said warningly.

"Or what?" Richie asked, "You going to start slapping _me_ around too?"

"Richie," Joe tried to get the kid to shut up before he wound up being sorry for it.

"Maybe you'd like one good shot at me right now," Richie continued, "Go ahead and try."

"Richie," Duncan said, now through gritted teeth.

"That's the way it is, isn't it? Anybody who doesn't live up to your expectations who doesn't do everything you want them to do, they're not worthy of being called your friend at all, are they? Well bravo, you got rid of Methos, you drove him out of here and now we're never going to see him again," he looked around and said, "I'm probably next because God knows I haven't done one thing right since we met…and how much longer before you're kicking Joe out of your life as well?"

"That's enough!" Duncan warned him.

"For you, Mac, sure…you know for a guy who's always so preachy about the truth, you sure don't ever want to hear it, do you?" Richie asked, "Not when it's not what you want to hear."

Before he was even close enough to feel them, Methos could hear them arguing. This wasn't what he wanted to happen at all. He had hoped that when he left, they would forget about him. Of course he'd known that was just a pipe dream but he had hoped once he was gone they would've stopped fighting. Feeling a stone in the pit of his stomach, he knew that he had to put an end to this. He walked up to the door and made his way inside and suddenly all six eyes were on him again.

"Methos!"

Richie scrambled away from the bar and over to him before Methos could even see it coming.

"You came back!"

"Sort of," Methos replied, "I missed you too."

Richie at his side, Methos walked over to the bar and hoped that Joe was as enthusiastic about seeing him again.

"Joe."

"Welcome back, friend."

Two down, breathing a bit easier Methos decided to face the music and he turned to…

"MacLeod."

Duncan said nothing and instead turned away. Methos didn't know why he bothered. He turned back to Joe and said, "I hope I'm still welcome here."

"Of course you are," Joe replied, "How've you been?"

"Alright."

"Yeah? They treating you well over there?"

"Yes," Methos replied.

Methos looked back over at MacLeod who now stood with his back to Methos, standing in what appeared to be a very defensive stance. It hurt Methos beyond reason that somebody who was once his friend would do this to him. Of course, MacLeod couldn't have any idea of what he was doing, but Methos wanted to plead with him not to stand like that with his back to Methos. It was the same way Kronos used to stand when he was disappointed in Methos; he could stand it if MacLeod never looked at him again, but just not to look so betrayed when he did it.

"I hope you don't mind my asking Methos but now that you're back there's something I just have to know, it's been driving me crazy," Joe said.

"What's that?" Methos asked as he turned back to him.

"How did you and Kronos meet? I mean if you don't mind saying."

"I don't mind, in fact I've been looking a long time for someone to tell it to," Methos said.

Through the corner of his eye Methos saw MacLeod's shoulders tense. Had he struck a nerve? Maybe curiosity was just building up in MacLeod. It didn't matter, he would tell his friends what they wanted to know, the best he could.

"He saved my life," Methos started.

Again through the corner of his eye, he could see MacLeod, and it seemed MacLeod's shoulders were tightening up as he listened.

"The members of the village I was living in at the time, found out that I couldn't die, they thought I was evil. They tied me up and threw me in the river and that long ago I couldn't swim to save my life unbound, I sank like a stone, Kronos and the others rode in, and he came into the river and pulled me out. That was how we met…and from that moment on we became brothers, in arms and blood and everything except birth. I know it's not easy to understand why I did it, but when I was with them, for the first time in my whole life, almost a thousand years, I was safe…but that didn't last long."

"What do you mean?" Joe asked.

"Joe," Methos said, "I know that some people who have heard about me like to think I somehow created the Watchers so that I would know where all other Immortals are in order to stay alive, those rumors have been going around for at least 50 years but believe me it isn't true. I had nothing to do with them…they found me first."

"What do you mean?" Richie asked.

Methos looked to Richie, and then back to Joe as he answered, "Not too long after I joined Kronos and the others, the Watchers found me. Back then they didn't have the rule of 'don't interfere', four of them pinned me down while another," Methos reached into his coat pocket and pulled out something that Kronos had kept with him for almost four thousand years, "Rammed this into my flesh."

It was then that Duncan turned around and saw what the other saw, a large disc of metal with 13 spikes in it resembling the Watcher tattoo.

"This is where this," Methos rolled up his sleeve revealing the tattoo on his wrist, "Came from. It was their way of marking the Immortals so they could find them. When Kronos found out what they'd done, he had to cut it out of my hip with a dagger and believe me that was _no_ easy task."

Joe glanced down at the misshapen metal and he looked like he was going to be sick. Richie just looked to be in shock, and Methos saw the look on MacLeod's face that could only be described as horror-stricken.

"Back then we didn't know what Watchers were, it didn't matter to Kronos though, he killed them…not because _he_ felt threatened by them, but to protect me. He didn't believe in letting somebody walk away because he knew they'd always come back. And now…"

Methos felt another quickening approaching and in his mind the alarm bells were going off. He and the others had arranged it that they wouldn't come near the bar unless….

"Get down!"

Before Joe had a chance to ask what the matter was, Methos jumped over the bar, grabbed him and they both fell to the floor. Duncan and Richie turned around to see what the matter was and they saw three men in black coats come into the bar, all of them Watchers.

"What the hell is this?" Duncan asked, "What's going on?"

"It's a reckoning," one of the Watchers said as he drew a sword out of his long coat.

Duncan and Richie looked and saw the other two Watchers pull out guns, and they realized what was about to happen. Before either Watcher could fire the first shot though, the front windows of the bar exploded in a hail of bullets and the three Watchers were riddled with the shots and fell to the floor. The two Immortals ducked down to avoid being shot and watched as the three men in black coats squirmed and convulsed as the life left them and their blood poured on the floor. When the gunfire stopped, the smoke cleared and Richie and Duncan saw Kronos standing in the doorway with an uzi in his hands.

"Where's my brother?" he asked.

"Methos?" Richie called as they got back up.

"Joe?" Duncan called out, when he heard no response he got worried, "Joe!"

"Stop yelling at me you prick," they heard Joe reply from behind the bar, "I heard you."

Methos stood up behind the counter and helped Joe to his feet in the process.

"Sorry about that, Joe, are you okay?" Methos asked.

"Yeah I'm okay," Joe replied, he then turned to Kronos and asked, "What the hell was that?"

"The beginning," Kronos answered.

"The beginning of what?" Duncan asked.

"You'll see, highlander."

"Methos," Richie said, "What's going on here?"

"I was worried that our encounter with Meltzer wouldn't be the end of our confrontation with the Watchers. As it turns out I was right…my good brother Silas has for the last few years been working in the Watchers as well, he found out that the members of _this_ branch of it were planning something that involved killing the three of you. Certain members of the Watchers have been getting information from an outside source for some time now, about all of us apparently, but me especially. Somebody told them who and what I was, and they had planned a divide and conquer."

"You mean us," Duncan said.

"Bright boy," Kronos said, "They anticipated you might try for my brother's head, but they hadn't planned on me coming into the picture. With Methos out of the way, there would just be the three of you to dispose of, and without any outside assistance, you never would've seen it coming."

"But why?" Richie asked, "What did we do?"

"You were born different," Kronos said, "That's all the reasoning they need. The Watchers in this vicinity are working for a much higher source, to eliminate everyone who gets in his way."

"Who?" Duncan asked.

"An Immortal, one I'm afraid who is even older than us," Methos said.

"You know him?" Duncan asked.

"From a long time ago," Kronos answered, "He used to be a high priest, had the mortals do his killing for him, thought it kept him purer than the rest, sacrifice rituals in the name of spiritual cleansing, ha! I thought he'd gotten himself killed centuries ago, I hadn't given it any thought whatsoever until I saw him."

Kronos reached into his jacket pocket and took out some pictures and handed them to MacLeod. Duncan and Richie and Joe looked at the pictures and saw a large man who none of them had ever seen before. In the picture he looked to be about the size of Goliath, and he looked about as merciful.

"He wasn't just a murderer, he owned hundreds of slaves, a lot of them young Immortals, he seemed to especially get off on hurting them, his name back then was Nebtawi, Lord of the World," Kronos explained, "He owned me from the time I was born, I finally escaped…and…" the dread and anger and sickness that was rising in him was also becoming evident in his tone, "Then he found Methos."

With a pained look on his face, Methos confessed, "When I left him, he said he would hunt me to the ends of the earth, no matter how long it took he would track me down and kill me…I believed him, but I didn't think 5000 years later it would actually happen. The whole time that I served him, I forced myself to forget about it all because it hurt too much to remember. That's why when I met you, MacLeod, I said my memory was a blur before my first Quickening, I had forgotten about it, until a few days ago…"

"And now, he's come back," Kronos said, "He's plotted this whole thing, he told the Watchers that Methos was Immortal, of course we have no proof but we suspect he may in fact be the reason the Watchers were started. So he would always know where they were when he wanted to go looking for a new victim. He's the one who set up everything that's been going on these last few weeks. He knew you would either kill Methos because of your nobility, or you would spare him because of your honor, in which case Nebtawi would be able to make the killing move himself, something he's been hungering for since nearly the dawn of time. However he wouldn't kill Methos quickly and get it over with, he was going to kill you first, let Methos find out, and come back here and find the only people he could count on, murdered because of him. Oh yes, Nebtawi might have preferred somebody else doing his dirty work for him, but make no mistake, it was always his murderous mind at work setting everything up. Only this time, it's the last time."

"What happens now?" Richie asked.

"The others should be here soon," Kronos said.

"Others?" Duncan asked.

"Silas and Caspian, we found out all the Watchers who are working for Nebtawi and we've been handling those problems all day," Methos explained, "By now most of them should be dead. I don't like what we've had to do, but it's easier than letting a war break out between the Immortals and the renegade Watchers."

Off in the distance they heard the roar of a motorcycle approaching.

"Oh good, here comes Caspian now," Kronos said, "Might as well see what he found out."

Kronos stepped over the dead bodies and the broken glass and made his way out the door. Methos followed and slowly and hesitantly, so did the rest. They got out into the street and saw somebody in black clothes on a black motorcycle come racing up the street and stopping just a few inches away from them.

"Well Caspian, what's the verdict?" Methos asked.

"Dead, every last one of them," he answered as he got off, "I made sure of that."

Duncan and Richie felt another quickening approaching and they turned around and saw a large man come from around the corner.

"Did you find him?" Kronos asked.

Silas nodded grimly, "He's coming."

"Then let's put an end to it," Kronos said.

Kronos drew his sword and Methos drew his as well and tossed his coat aside.

"What's going on?" Duncan asked.

"Silas found out where Nebtawi was, told him that an issue was challenged for his head, and to come here to meet the challenge," Kronos said, "He's too full of himself to not come."

"Methos," Richie took a step towards him.

"Get back, Richie," he replied, "I don't want you getting in the middle of this."

"But Methos…"

It was at that exact moment that they felt another Immortal approaching. They saw the man come up the road and they knew that this was Nebtawi. He looked even larger in person than he did in the picture, and it was obvious that he wasn't going to let this golden opportunity to have his revenge slip away from him.

Methos could feel his heart rising to his throat; this was the man who haunted him all his life, this was what gave him nightmares every night for a thousand years, this was what he had always hoped to avoid. But it seemed that he was not the only thing that held the man's interest. He amusedly looked from Methos, over to Kronos.

"Well, well, well," he said smugly, "I guess it's true what they say, you wait long enough, _everything_ comes back."

Kronos with a deadly tight grip on his sword, stepped in front of Methos and grabbed his wrist to keep him from doing something foolish and going into the fight first.

"You look different somehow," Nebtawi said to Kronos, "Perhaps it's seeing you on your feet for a change, instead of your back."

Kronos was too old and too far gone for such addlebrained ridicule to bother him now. All he could think about was killing this bastard, before he got close enough to lay a hand on Methos.

"Come on you bastard," Kronos said coldly, "Fight me!"

The man looked amused by the sight before him, "Has he got _you_ playing his protector now? No surprise, he'd hide behind anybody to avoid his own battles."

"Shut up and draw your sword," Kronos growled.

"I'm going to enjoy this," he replied, "Let's get it over with, Kronos, and don't think you'll live to learn anything from this."

Kronos let go of Methos' wrist and sprang himself at Nebtawi. His blade met with Nebtawi's blade, and it was then that the fight began. Kronos was to the point of seeing red and ready to claw the man's throat out with his bare hands while Nebtawi had the advantage of thinking clearly as he was the one enjoying the fight. All the same, each blow by one's blade was blocked by the other, no matter what each tried, the other canceled them out. No matter though, Kronos was too stubborn to even consider giving up. However his plans were cut short when he felt an excruciating pain jab into his stomach.

Somehow Nebtawi had reached into his coat, taken out a knife and jammed it into Kronos' abdomen, the shock of the pain momentary though it was, was enough to knock Kronos off balance and strike him, sending him falling back against the pavement. Methos jumped into the fight and he was even more ruthless and careless than Kronos had been. Caspian and Richie rushed over to Kronos and helped him up and jerked the knife out of his stomach. Kronos howled in pain but he continued to his feet and got close enough again to jump back in the fight if there was any sign that Methos wasn't going to make it.

This was what he had been afraid of when they fought in the cemetery those four years ago. Strangers it was very easy to kill, people you knew were harder, but the hardest ones were the people who once held power over you. The ones you wanted the most to kill were the hardest to actually commit the killing strike on. Kronos had never known that Methos had been Nebtawi's replacement slave, in all the thousands of years the two knew each other, neither would dare bring up that part of their lives. It wasn't until Kronos saw the pictures that it all came crashing down on him and he realized what had happened.

Methos was exhausting himself too quickly from throwing too much into every swing of his sword, and he didn't feel like he could last for much longer. He saw that conniving, condescending face laughing at him, the same man who for so many years had terrorized and abused him on a daily basis, _this_ was the reason that so much of his early memory had been blocked out of his conscious mind. It all ended here, one way or another, if he killed Nebtawi, or if he died, it had to end here, it _would_ end here. In a split second Methos saw his once chance to bring it all to an immediate end. Nebtawi swung his blade back and Methos jumped at him and knocked the both of them to the ground. Methos scrambled to his feet, grabbed his sword and before he could even comprehend what he was doing, he placed the blade at Nebtawi's neck and swung it at full force.

And just as quickly as it had started, it ended. Nebtawi's head rolled away from his body, and Methos moved away from it and dropped his sword, trying to breathe. Now came the hard part.

Kronos felt the slight tremor under his feet, and he knew immediately it was the calm before the storm. Methos had just killed the oldest Immortal they had ever known about, and Methos never took quickenings well; it'd be a wonder if this one didn't kill him. The ground started rumbling underneath everybody's feet like an earthquake had started. Methos watched in horror as the energy left the decapitated body and made its way to him. Once it caught hold of him, it engulfed him entirely and he was surrounded by the blue streaks of electricity that contained the quickening. He screamed like an animal being tortured to death.

From the quickening there emerged a brutal wind strong enough that it felt like a tornado had hit the ground and was blowing their way. Things started flying through the air and through it all Kronos looked and saw his poor brother as he was thrashed repeatedly by the raw energy of the quickening. What happened next, nobody knew for certain, but the blue electricity that surrounded Methos' body turned into a massive ring of fire that trapped him. Methos screamed even louder and the others watched in horror as the power of the quickening ripped at parts of his flesh, opening up wounds all over his body. Kronos worried that this quickening might _really_ kill him, neither he nor anybody else who watched this frightening occurrence had ever seen a quickening cause so much damage.

Just when it seemed that the nightmare would never end, the fire disappeared, the winds stopped and Methos dropped to the pavement, screaming in agony in ear-shattering pitches that Kronos had never heard before in his life and it scared the hell out of him. Silas was the first one to get to Methos, who by this time was lying on the pavement convulsing like a power line had been dropped on him in a rainstorm. Silas took off his long coat and wrapped Methos up in it, he put it on him backwards and did it up and tied the sleeves in a knot behind Methos' back so it confined him in a manner similar to a strait-jacket.

Kronos fell on his knees by his brother and looked him over to see if everything had healed, it had. He reached out to touch Methos and yet he was almost afraid to because he might cause his brother even more pain than he was already in. Carefully, he ran his hand along Methos' cheek and listened to him as he continued screaming and moaning.

"Methos, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Kronos said quietly, "I didn't know this would happen."

He felt Methos' skin and noticed that something was wrong. He put both hands on Methos' face and pulled them away feeling cold as ice. He looked to Caspian who knew that something was wrong, and he went to bring the van around so they could lay Methos out in the back where he could rest and they could get out of there. Richie and Joe knelt down by Methos' body and watched as he shook and convulsed and threw his head back moaning and wailing.

"Is he going to be okay?" Richie asked.

"I don't know," Kronos replied, "I've never seen this before." He turned to Silas and said, "We have to get him out of here, something's wrong. His body temperature's dropping rapidly; at this rate he might even freeze to death."

A black van came speeding around the corner and swerved to a stop in the middle of the road. Kronos and Silas lifted Methos up and carried him over to the back and laid him out on the floor. Kronos got in alongside him and closed the door, Silas went around to the front and got in beside Caspian, and as quickly as the whole thing had started, it was over and they were gone, with no explanation to those who remained about where Methos was being taken, or what was going to happen to him now.


	14. Chapter 14

Author's note: Well everybody, here we are finally at the end. I'd like to thank all the readers who have given this story the time of day, and also I'd like to thank everybody who thought it was good enough to review. And once again very much thanks to Shadow3418 for her continual feedback for each chapter. Here's the last chapter, I hope you all enjoy it.

They returned to their hotel room, Kronos and Silas on either side of Methos, more or less holding him up and carrying him along as he'd lost all strength and energy to do anything except continue to moan and scream at the pain he was in. His skin was still ice cold to the touch and Kronos didn't know what was the matter with him. They laid him out on the bed and Kronos went into the bathroom to fill up the tub with hot water, hoping that might restore some heat to Methos' body. Silas went with him, and Kronos told Caspian to stay with Methos.

"You got it," was all he said in response.

"If he tries to get up," Kronos told him, "Sit on his lap, I don't want him moving anymore than he has to until this thing has passed."

"Right."

Caspian got on the bed and lay down beside Methos, rubbing his back and trying to get him to talk. Methos wasn't as loud now as he was on the way back to the hotel, Caspian hoped that meant the pain was leaving him, but it also might've meant he was just too tired to scream anymore.

"It's alright, Methos, it's over now…you're going to be alright."

Methos weakly nodded as if he believed it.

"I know it was horrible to take that Quickening tonight."

Methos made a small sound of agreement as he nodded his head again. Caspian felt Methos' cheek and realized he was warming up finally. Methos tried to raise his arms and then he realized he was still tied up in Silas' coat, he opened his eyes and looked over to Caspian and said, "Get me out of this thing."

"Soon enough, are you feeling better?"

"A little," Methos answered, "Oh but I'm so tired…"

"Then rest, it's over now."

Methos groaned as he turned on his side, "I don't think I've ever felt this awful in my whole life."

Caspian stayed by his side and listened to him for almost half an hour before Kronos and Silas reentered the room. Kronos went over to the bed and sat down beside Methos who had fallen asleep. Kronos felt his skin and now it felt more like he'd been caught in a cold rain rather than left in the ice. He finally looked to be resting peacefully after being in so much pain, Kronos hated to wake him up, but all the same he did. He untied the coat and slipped it off of Methos' body and had his brother follow him into the bathroom. Kronos closed the door behind them and told Methos to take his clothes off. He did and Kronos helped him into the tub and once he felt the hot water against his cold skin, as far as Methos was concerned, he was in heaven.

"You look better now," Kronos said, "Are you feeling better?"

Methos tiredly nodded.

"That's good, I was starting to get worried about you," Kronos told him, "I imagine the whole thing must've scared you half to death as well."

"Oh for a while," Methos replied, "Kronos, I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"For what Nebtawi did to you."

Kronos' eyes hardened when he heard that. Methos was worried he'd said the wrong thing again. All Kronos had to say about it was, "Don't think about it."

Methos waited until Kronos had moved over to the door before he spoke again.

"Why didn't you tell me about it?" Methos asked.

"Probably for the same reason you didn't tell me about when you were there," Kronos replied.

"I have another question but I don't know if I should ask it," Methos said.

"What is it?"

"Is that how you got your scar?"

Kronos looked back at him for a minute before answering.

"I got this," he pointed to the scar that ran down from his eye, "From fighting with the bastard. At the time it happened, he got something far worse than that, so I consider this to be something worth showing off. Don't feel sorry for me, I'm just sorry that you had to be the one he picked as a replacement."

"I survived," Methos replied.

"I know, it's what you always did best, unfortunately."

"Hey."

"I didn't mean it like that…you know I love you."

"Yeah."

Kronos walked back over to the tub and knelt down by Methos' side. "My little brother…sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve finding you."

"Oh I'm sure it was probably something in a past life," Methos smugly replied.

Kronos laughed as he reached over and grabbed Methos and started kissing him. Methos struggled and squirmed and he finally wriggled out of Kronos' hold and commented, "I _really_ think we need to find you a woman."

Kronos stood up and stroked the top of Methos head as he told him, "Enjoy your bath, after that we're going to get you ready for bed, and then tomorrow we're going home."

That brought Methos back to something he'd been wondering before.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you, Kronos."

"What's that?"

"Well…do we _have_ to go back to Nosara?"

"What do you mean?"

This was harder for Methos to say than he'd thought. "I guess what I mean is that…I'm looking forward to going back with the three of you, but I want to come back here as well to the others."

The look on Kronos' face wasn't one Methos could read, but it looked like Kronos couldn't figure out what Methos was asking.

"Four thousand years ago when we were together," Methos said, "The only people we could trust were each other, I guess that's why we've lasted as long as we did. But now, Kronos…I know it sounds bad, but you're not my only family anymore…I have friends here…some of them aren't _too_ good but the others are worth coming back for."

Kronos nodded, "I know, I could see that earlier tonight…those two seem to really love you."

Methos nodded, "Richie sure seemed to take it hard…you should've heard the things he was saying when I went to the bar."

"I know," Kronos said, "He seems to be particularly fond of you."

"Well, Joe likes me too," Methos told him, "He and I go back the farthest."

Kronos nodded, "I could tell…"

Kronos watched as Methos laid back in the tub and closed his eyes. He knew that this day had been nothing short of exhausting for his brother, but now finally the nightmare was over. Hopefully now they would be able to put a lot of what they'd gone through recently behind them.

After Methos had been in the tub for an hour, Kronos pulled the plug and helped him out and helped him dry off.

"Now," Kronos told him, "Let's get you to bed, we'll be leaving for home at 10 tomorrow."

He helped Methos get dressed for bed and the two walked back into the bedroom. Kronos picked Methos up and dropped him in the middle of the bed and lay down beside him. Methos was so tired he couldn't even keep his eyes open, but for the first time in a long time he looked happy, truly happy.

"Go to sleep," Kronos told him.

Methos tiredly nodded in response as he turned on his side and closed his eyes. Kronos pulled up the covers on him and curled up next to him as he too fell asleep.

* * *

When Methos awoke the next morning, it was light out but there was no sunlight. He guessed it was going to storm again, it seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. He was certain there was some irony in how the weather was always bad when he and Kronos were there. As he started to come around, he realized that it felt like he'd slept for an eternity. Today he realized that something was different. It took him a few minutes to figure it out, but the answer finally came to him. He was an old man who for much of his life had felt the same way, but now today he felt as if thousands of years had been taken off of him. He felt like a new Immortal again, a young one just starting out, he felt as if something or somebody had lifted off all the tension and pain and horrible memories that had haunted him for most of his life. Methos looked up and saw Kronos looking down at him, grinning. Also Methos noted, they were the only two in the room, there was no trace of Silas or Caspian anywhere nearby.

"What're you doing?" Methos asked.

"Nothing, just watching you sleep," Kronos replied.

Methos tiredly laughed, "You've been doing that for over 2000 years, haven't you gotten tired of it yet?"

"No."

"What time is it?"

"Near 10, come on," Kronos pulled the covers down and pulled Methos into a sitting position and helped him out of the shirt he'd worn to bed and into a new one, "Lets get you dressed and then we're going."

"Home?" Methos asked.

"Not yet," Kronos replied as he buttoned up the shirt, "I sent Caspian and Silas out for a while, we'll go get them when we're ready."

"Then where're we going?" Methos asked.

"Well I got to thinking about what you said last night, and before we go back to Costa Rica, I wanted to get something straightened out while we're still here."

"What about?"

"Your friend, MacLeod."

"What about him?"

"You'll see," Kronos replied, "Would he be at the bar around this time?"

"Maybe."

"Good," Kronos said, "Let's go."

"But what're you going to do?" Methos asked.

"You'll see, now come on."

* * *

When they reached the bar, the glass company was just leaving, having put in new windows to replace the ones that were shattered the day before.

"He's in there," Kronos told Methos, "Now remember what I told you."

"Okay."

They walked in the door and saw MacLeod seated at the bar and Joe standing behind it, both men looked surprised to see the two Immortals again.

"Methos," Duncan said, "What're you doing here?"

"Came to say goodbye," Methos replied, "We're going back to Costa Rica today."

That hadn't been what either man expected to hear, and they were both shocked. Joe was the one who finally asked, "Are you going to come back?"

"That depends," Kronos told him.

"On what?" Duncan asked.

Kronos' eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at MacLeod. "On you. Is there anything that you have to say to my brother?"

Duncan hadn't been expecting that either, he looked at the two of them and had no idea whatsoever what he was supposed to say.

"Very well then," Kronos said as he grabbed Methos by the arm and started towards the door, "Come on, Methos, we don't want to miss our plane."

"What do you want me to say, Kronos?" Duncan asked.

Kronos stopped and turned around, his eyes sharper now, "It's not a matter of what _I_ want, don't kid yourself. It's my brother who I'm concerned about." Kronos pushed Methos in front of him and grabbed his shoulders. "Look at him, MacLeod, _look_," Kronos violently shook Methos once, "_At"_ and he shook him again, "_Him!"_ Kronos shook him for the third and final time, jerking Methos' whole body back and forth.

Methos hung his head low and it looked like he was embarrassed, or upset, but in fact he was trying desperately to hide the fact that he was losing a battle with himself trying not to laugh. Kronos was a very good actor when he wanted to be convincing, but he could take dramatic license a bit too far at times.

"If my brother's going to be coming back here without me and I know he will," Kronos continued, "I want to know that there's somebody here who is as concerned about his wellbeing as I am. I warn you, MacLeod, if I ever find out that you've done anything else to hurt him, I'll hunt you down and kill you, no matter how long it takes. This is my little brother, who I fought and killed for a thousand times before you were even born. He's more important to me than you will ever realize, and if anything happens to him…"

He stopped when Methos subtly brought his elbow back against Kronos' stomach. He let go of Methos and said to MacLeod, "I'll leave you two alone for a minute to sort this out, but don't try anything stupid."

Kronos walked out the door but he stayed close enough that he could hear them.

"Just so I'm clear on this," Joe said to Methos, "You lived with that thing for 2000 years?"

"About that," Methos nodded, "He's doing much better now though, he used to be _really_ possessive."

Joe started laughing, "And you're flying 2000 miles back there with that thing and staying with him for how long?"

"Well like he said, that just depends on if I'm welcome back here. I know I am with you, and I'm guessing Richie wouldn't have any objections, but that just leaves one thing to settle."

"Methos," Duncan finally said, "I'm sorry. I feel terrible about what I did, I…"

"It's alright, MacLeod, I'm not as hardheaded as my brother is, after yesterday I had an idea you'd be coming around."

"Can you ever forgive me for acting like a…"

"Like an ass," Joe suggested.

"You don't need to ask for that, MacLeod," Methos told him, "You always had it. Unlike you I've lived too long not to be able to."

"Methos, are you sure you're alright and up to going back with those things?" Joe asked, "After what happened yesterday."

"I'm perfectly alright," Methos answered, "It's been a long time since the four of us have been able to be together, I'd like for it to happen again before fate throws something else my way. Now Joe, will you tell Richie I said goodbye? Tell him I'll be back in a month or so."

"I'll tell him," Duncan said.

"Are you sure he'll listen to you though?" Methos asked.

"I'll tell him," Joe replied, "I'll also tell him that things are about as back to normal between all of us as they're ever going to be."

"Thank you, Joe. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a plane to catch," Methos said, "See you later, Joe..." he turned to Duncan, "So long, MacLeod."

"Wait a minute," Joe said, "Before you go there's something I want to know. Is what Kronos said true?"

Methos turned back towards the bar. "Is what true?"

"When he said that you were his little brother."

Methos nodded, "As far as I know."

"How's that possible?" Duncan asked.

"Kronos was 50 years old and an Immortal for 15 when he finally left Nebtawi, almost immediately after he escaped, I was captured and taken to be his replacement, I was 30 and a new Immortal at the time. And I stayed there until…well, it was too long. Anyway, after Kronos found me, the way it was figured was that he was the oldest, but not much more than Silas was, and Caspian was younger than both of them, but I was the genuine runt of the litter."

"And yet Kronos seems to highly regard you as the one he most prefers," Joe noted.

Methos nodded, "There was always something between the two of us that there never was with the others. I never knew what it was but now I wonder if it had to do with our pasts before we met."

There was an awkward silence between the three of them for a minute before Methos concluded, "If you'll excuse me, I must be off now," he turned to Duncan, "So long, MacLeod."

"Goodbye, Methos."

"Be good," he told him as he headed for the door.

"Well?" Kronos asked as Methos came out, "How did it go?"

"I'll be coming back someday, now let's go get the others," Methos told him.

* * *

When the plane landed and they had returned to Nosara, Methos was already going through jetlag. When they got home the first thing he did was go up to his room and go to sleep. Kronos left him alone to rest for a while, a few hours later when he went back to the room, Methos was gone. When Kronos wasn't able to feel Methos' quickening anywhere, he searched the whole house and couldn't find him, and he started to get worried.

Stepping out the front door and off the porch he saw something laying on the sand, he picked it up and saw it was Methos' jacket, a few feet away from that he found Methos' shirt. Stepping further away from the house and closer to the water, he found the rest of Methos' clothes tossed aside in the sand. Kronos still couldn't feel Methos' quickening and he was worried something had gone wrong. He ran out to the shore and dove into the water and swam out hoping to find Methos before something happened. Once he was about a hundred yards from the shore, he looked around and saw no sign of his brother anywhere. Then, he felt a quickening somewhere nearby and he started looking around, but the rising and falling waves all looked the same to him and he couldn't see anybody.

"Methos!"

"Looking for me?" he asked as he emerged behind Kronos.

Kronos turned around and saw him, and he stopped, and laughed, "Lady Godiva I presume."

He lunged at Methos and grabbed him and the two fell back into the seawater, screaming and laughing loud enough to wake the dead. They spent the next hour in the water each trying to drench the other to the bone. When they finally stopped, black clouds had moved in overhead and the sun had disappeared and it was starting to rain.

"Come on," Kronos said, "Let's get back to the house."

They swam back to the shore and Methos picked up his clothes as they went back, and they made it to the front porch just as the rain started to pour down. As Methos got dressed, they stood on the porch for a few minutes watching the storm, the rain beating down, the clouds swirling through the sky, and thunder loud enough that it made the ground underneath them vibrate.

"Nothing quite like a tropical storm," Methos commented as he watched the continuous downpour.

"Come on," Kronos said, "Let's go in."

* * *

The storm ended early into the evening. That night Methos seemed for the first time in a long time to be truly alright and Kronos hoped that meant he'd be able to sleep through the night. He himself had gone to bed in his own room alone and within an hour was in a near dead sleep when Methos crept into the room. He turned on the lights and went over to the bed where Kronos was still dead to the world.

Methos sat down on the edge of the bed and pressed down on Kronos' shoulder to wake him up, "Kronos."

He opened his eyes and saw his brother hovering above him.

"Methos, is something wrong?"

"No, I was just wondering if I could stay with you tonight," Methos replied, "It's rather lonely in my room after what we've been through lately."

Kronos nodded and pushed back the covers for Methos to slip in beside him.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Methos replied.

"That's good, we were worried the other night after the quickening."

"Even you?"

"Oh no, the others were worried, you scared the hell out me," Kronos told him.

"I didn't mean to."

"I know. I'm just glad that you're alright now. When I saw that son of a bitch again after all these years I just…I could've reached into him and pulled out whatever heart he had and torn it to shreds. There was no way in hell I was going to let him hurt you again."

That was good to hear, but there was something that Methos still wondered about.

"Kronos, what he said to you…"

Kronos' eyes grew sharp again as he said, "Don't think about it, don't you ever think again about what he said about me, it's over, he's dead and he can't hurt you anymore."

"But he hurt _you_."

"I survived, I don't care what he did to me, when I found out that he'd done the same things to you for two hundred years, I understood why you never told me about your early life. I can't say I blame you for it."

"In a way I almost envy MacLeod, he never had to know the kind of things we went through, he wasn't put through the pain and humiliation we were," Methos said.

"I don't want to hear anymore about it," Kronos said, "I don't want to hear anything else about Nebtawi or MacLeod or any of them, all that matters is the two of us here and now."

With that, Kronos reached over and grabbed Methos and pinned him against the pillows and kissed him as he had thousands of years ago to quiet Methos when he woke up screaming in terror, and once again he didn't pull away until neither had any breath left in them.

"I've missed this," Kronos told him.

"So have I," Methos replied.

Kronos look him in the eyes and smiled as he commented, "It's good to be back."

That night the two brothers slept peacefully in each other's arms, oblivious to everything surrounding them. Kronos slept with relief that Methos was finally going to be alright, and Methos slept for the first time in his whole life without a worry in the world. Though it had taken 2000 years for the two brothers to come together again without swords aimed at each other's necks, they each knew that the nightmare was over, and they were finally home again. The second chance that Methos had longed for over a course of more than 2000 years had finally been granted, and both knew it had been well worth the wait.


End file.
